Probate Assets

Probate assets are assets in the decedent’s sole name and which contain 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.

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