Non-Probate Assets

Not everything goes through someone’s probate estate. That means not everything passes through your Will. If you care how your assets are distributed, then it’s important to coordinate how your probate and non-probate assets pass following your death.

Property held as joint tenants with right of survivorship (JTWRS) does not pass through anyone’s Will until the last joint tenant dies; then those assets pass through the Will of the last surviving (and newly deceased) joint tenant. Land can be owned in joint tenancy. In Georgia, most co-owned bank accounts are held with survivorship.

Life estates do not pass through your Will. The life estate ends when you die. After that, the remaindermen take over.

Unless it is paid to your estate, life insurance does not pass through your Will. A life insurance contract is an agreement where you pay a premium. In return, the life insurance company pays a beneficiary when you die. If it passes to a beneficiary other than your estate, creditors cannot make a claim against the proceeds. But it also will not pass under your Will so if you had specific instructions in your Will concerning how you want property used after you die, they won’t apply to the life insurance. Keep in mind, the insurance company pays the person you designate as a beneficiary, so keep beneficiary designations updated.

Retirement accounts do not pass through your will unless they are paid to your estate (which is usually a bad idea). The same applies to other investment and financial accounts where a beneficiary is named or where you add pay-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) instructions. Stocks and other securities may have TOD instructions. In Georgia, we now have transfer on death deeds for land.

Property in a trust does not pass through your Will. It passes according to the instructions in the trust.