Resources
- Wills
- Probate Assets
- Probate
- Living Trusts
- Testamentary Trusts
- Power of Attorney
- Healthcare Power of Attorney and Living Will
- Deeds
- Co-Ownership of Real Estate
- Title Insurance
- Mortgages and Liens
- Easements
- Guardianship
Probate assets are assets in the decedent’s sole name and which contains no provision for automatic succession of ownership at death. If an asset is a probate asset, its disposition is controlled by the decedent’s will or by the statute of descent and distribution if there is no will.
A bank account in the sole name of the decedent is a probate asset. An account held jointly with another with rights of survivorship is not a probate asset and the ownership of it will pass to the surviving owner.
Real estate titled in the sole name of the decedent is a probate asset in Ohio and in Florida, unless the Florida property is the decedent’s homestead. Real estate is not a probate asset if it is held as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, or tenant by the entireties in Florida, or homestead real estate in Florida.