Even if you have never been through the probate of an estate, you have likely heard that probate is something you want to avoid. Whether you are engaged in your own estate planning or faced with overseeing the probate of an estate, you need to know how to get around probate. With that in mind, the Los Angeles estate planning attorneys at Schomer Estate & Wealth Advisors discuss how to get around probate in California.
What Is Probate?
When someone dies, they leave behind an “estate” that includes personal property, real estate, financial accounts, and other assets owned by them at the time of death. To make sure that a decedent’s estate is handled properly the law requires most estates to go through the legal process known as probate. Probate has several goals, including identifying all estate assets, notifying creditors and paying claims, and eventually passing down assets to beneficiaries and/or legal heirs of the estate. Formal probate can take a long time to get through and can be expensive. For this reason, avoiding probate is desirable.
How Can I Use My Estate Plan to Get Around Probate in California?
Knowing that probate can be time-consuming and expensive, you may wish to use your own estate plan to try and prevent your estate from having to go through probate. Fortunately, there are numerous estate planning tools and strategies to help get around probate in California.
The key to avoiding the need for formal probate is to avoid leaving valuable probate assets in your estate at the time of your death. Converting assets to non-probate assets is one way to achieve this goal. Trust assets, for example, are non-probate assets, meaning they are not required to go through probate and can be distributed right after your death if you so choose. Adding a beneficiary as a co-owner with rights of survivorship to real property also allows that property to avoid probate. Your interest in the property will pass directly to the co-owner when you die.
Making gifts while you are still alive is yet another estate planning strategy that can help your estate avoid probate. You can even make use of the yearly exclusion to make tax-free gifts that will not impact your lifetime exemption limit.
Can I Get Around Probate in California If I Am in Charge of Probating an Estate?
If you find yourself in charge of probating the estate of a recently deceased loved one, you may also hope to get around probate to reduce the amount of time you have to devote to administering the estate. You may not be able to avoid probate altogether; however, you might be able to avoid formal probate.
The first thing you need to do is to inventory the estate assets and categorize assets as probate or non-probate assets. Non-probate assets, such as trust assets, proceeds of a life insurance policy, retirement accounts, and certain types of jointly owned property, are not included in the probate of the estate and are not counted when determining the value of the estate. Non-probate assets can be distributed without waiting for probate. Because you want to avoid making costly mistakes, it is always best to consult with an experienced probate attorney if you are unsure what assets must go through probate and what assets can bypass probate.
California offers an alternative to formal probate for estates that qualify. If the total value of the estate is less than $166,250 (as of 2023) a beneficiary or heir of the estate may be able to use an affidavit to transfer personal property. This simplified probate process cannot be used to transfer real property.
Contact Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorneys
For more information, please join us for an upcoming FREE seminar. If you have additional questions or concerns about how to get around probate in California, contact the experienced Los Angeles estate planning attorneys at Schomer Estate & Wealth Advisors by calling (310) 337-7696 to schedule an appointment.
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