Do I have to go through probate for my loved one’s estate?

One question that a lot of our clients have is whether they must go through the probate process to settle their loved one’s estate. What assets are able to avoid probate? Is probate necessary? We will answer those questions and more in this post.

My name is Erik Broel, and I am the founder and CEO of Georgia Probate Law Group. At our firm, we help families who have lost a loved one navigate the complex and confusing legal process so they can make sure the estate is handled properly and their loved one’s memory is honored. Everything discussed in this post is for general information and is not legal advice – for specific information about your situation, please go here to request a complimentary consultation with one of our inheritance lawyers.

When we consider whether an estate will need to go through the probate process, we must determine what assets are considered probate assets, and what assets are considered non probate assets.

Probate assets

Probate assets are assets that must go through the probate process before they can be distributed to heirs or beneficiaries. These assets do not have a beneficiary designated on them and, because of that, there is no one who can do anything with the assets until the estate has been opened with the Probate Court. Some examples of these assets could be a bank account of your loved one, real estate that is solely titled in your loved one’s name, and a life insurance policy without a beneficiary designation.

Non-probate assets

A non-probate asset is an asset that has a designated beneficiary. A good example of a non-probate asset could be a life insurance policy in which your loved one has designated a beneficiary on the policy itself. If this is the case, then most of the time, the policy will not have to go through the probate process, it will be handled by the life insurance company and the beneficiary.

If you are unsure if probate is necessary for your specific situation, please reach out to our office to help you sort through everything.

For more information about this and other probate topics, please go to GPLG.com/Handbook to download a complimentary copy of our Georgia. Probate Handbook. You’ll learn the key things that go wrong in an estate, how to prevent them, and what to do if they happen.