Simply stated, probate is the process of proving the validity of a will, paying creditors of the decedent, and distributing the decedent’s assets to the rightful beneficiaries. Colorado has a simplified, unsupervised probate system; therefore, over 90% of estates in Colorado never see the inside of a courtroom. Court-appointed Personal Representatives do most of the routine administrative tasks, such as paying bills, selling assets and distributing personal possessions.
When a person dies, some of the assets will automatically pass by operation of law to certain designated beneficiaries (e.g., by joint tenancy and POD designations). These assets are called non-probate assets. For instance, if a husband and wife have a joint account and the wife dies, the husband gets the funds in the account automatically – regardless of what the will says.
The other major categories of non-probate assets are life insurance and retirement accounts that name a specific person as a beneficiary.
All other assets are called “probate assets.” Probate assets do not pass automatically to the rightful beneficiaries; they must be disposed of through probate.
Wills do not avoid probate. They are the documents that are actually probated. If avoiding probate is an estate-planning goal, consider using one of the probate-avoiding techniques discussed above, or handling it all through the classic probate-avoidance strategy: the revocable living trust.
For help settling or planning an estate, call the Hughes Law Firm at 303-PROBATE (303-776-2283) for a FREE initial consultation.