How to Keep Your Estate Out of Probate

This guidance draws on review by Jeff Burtka, an attorney whose practice centers on estate planning.

Steering property away from probate court is usually more straightforward than most people assume. A small set of established tools can move some or all of your belongings directly to the people you name, without needing a judge's approval first. If you want to understand why avoiding probate matters in the first place, a separate explainer covers the downsides of the process.

In this article

• Revocable living trusts
• Payable-on-death accounts and registrations
• Joint ownership of property
• Community property agreements
• Giving assets away while you're alive
• Shortcuts for smaller estates

Revocable living trusts

The whole point of a living trust is to let your assets bypass probate. Once you transfer valuable property into the trust, ownership technically shifts to the trustee, even though you keep control over it during your lifetime. That shift becomes important after death: since the trustee already holds legal title, the property can pass to your chosen heirs quickly and privately, with no court involvement. One caveat: trust property still counts toward any federal estate tax calculation. In practice, the trust document functions much like a will, laying out who gets what.

Payable-on-death accounts and registrations

Most banks and retirement account providers will let you convert an account into a payable-on-death account simply by filling out a beneficiary form. Once you die, the money goes straight to the person you named, skipping probate altogether. This same setup is usually available for government bonds, stocks, and brokerage accounts as well.

Many states also offer transfer-on-death registration for vehicles, and most now permit transfer-on-death deeds for real estate. Both tools let you pass along a car or a home to a chosen person after you die, without probate ever entering the picture.

Joint ownership of property

Some forms of shared ownership allow property to pass automatically to the surviving co-owner the instant one owner dies, with no probate step required. Setting this up is usually as simple as specifying how you hold title on the deed or other paperwork — no separate documents needed. Your options include:

• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. When property is titled this way, it transfers directly to the surviving owner or owners upon one owner's death.
• Tenancy by the entirety. Some states offer this to married couples in place of standard joint tenancy, and a few extend it to registered same-sex partners. For probate-avoidance purposes, it behaves almost the same way.
• Community property with right of survivorship. Married couples — or registered domestic partners in California — who live in or hold property in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Texas, or Wisconsin can title assets this way. When one spouse dies, ownership automatically passes to the survivor.

Community property agreements

In a handful of states — Alaska, Idaho, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin — couples can sign an agreement that determines what happens to some or all of their property when one spouse dies. Typically, the agreement classifies everything as community property and directs it to the surviving spouse without going through probate. It works somewhat like a will, except the property avoids probate entirely once the first spouse passes away.

The rules governing what makes these agreements valid differ by state, so confirm your state's current requirements before depending on one.

One more detail worth knowing: these agreements are binding contracts. Unlike a will, which you can revoke at any time, neither spouse can change or cancel the agreement alone. Generally, a community property agreement only ends if the couple:

• jointly agrees to cancel it,
• divorces, or
• separates permanently.

Giving assets away while you're alive

Property you no longer own at death simply isn't part of your probate estate. Giving things away during your lifetime removes them from that calculation, and it can also lower overall probate costs, since those costs typically climb along with the value of what passes through the process.

In 2025, you're allowed to give up to $19,000 to any individual without triggering a gift tax return requirement. For a deeper look at how gift taxes work, see Estate and Gift Tax FAQ.

Shortcuts for smaller estates

Nearly every state provides some kind of expedited process, or a full exemption from probate, for estates that qualify as "small." What counts as small varies by state, but the underlying logic is consistent: modest or uncomplicated estates often don't need to go through the full probate procedure. If your estate is likely to fall into this category, you may not need to pursue more involved planning just to avoid probate.

Because these rules vary so much by state, it's worth checking your own state's requirements, or speaking with a local attorney, before deciding which of these approaches makes sense for your situation.