Friday, March 6th, Attorney Steven M. Berger discusses the question, "Does having a Will mean you won't have probate?"
This is a common misunderstanding. Your Will contains the instructions for the property that is to go through probate. Anything that is in your name only will go through probate.
Most frequently homes, personal property, cars, boats, accounts (without beneficiary designations), deposits, refunds on contracts, taxes etc are all types of property we see go through probate.
What avoids probate is good estate planning. Making sure all of your accounts have designated beneficiaries. A Will is important, a Trust can also do more probate avoidance.
A Will is not a probate avoidance tool.
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