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The purpose of probate is to establish clear title or ownership to your assets after your death. Before your estate can go to your children the probate court has to determine and settle your debts, establish clear title to everything you own and then distribute the estate according to your will or to the "intestate succession" statutes in your state.

Why Probate?
You may be wondering why your assets would have to go through probate even though you established a will. The reason is simple. If your name is on the title of an asset and you die, probate is the legal way to take your name off the title and put the new owner's name on it.

Find probate rules in your state

Does every estate have to go through probate?
The size of the estate determines whether it will go through probate. In most states if real property (land, or home) exceed $20,000 or if the total estate including personal effects exceed $20,000 to $100,000 the estate will go through probate. If your estate is under the allowed limit, a simple probate affidavit procedure may be substituted for the lengthy and costly probate process. However, since most people have a home or land valued over $20,000, few people are spared from the probate process.

Do all assets have to go through probate?
Not everything you own will automatically have to go through probate. For example, a jointly owned asset that transfers to the surviving spouse will generally avoid probate while the spouse is alive. However, after the second spouse's death the asset may have to go through a probate process. Also, assets with named beneficiaries such as insurance policies, IRA's and annuities, these assets will avoid probate as long as the beneficiary is alive.

Length of probate:
Many individuals assume that they have a simple estate and do not have to worry about a long probate process. This misconception is very common. For many estates probate can last between 6 months to two years. In many cases probate can go to three or four years. Regardless of how simple an estate appears to be it is rare to see an estate pass through probate in less than 6 months.

What happens in probate?
After your death, your family will not be notified to attend a probate proceeding. Rather they will simply have to figure it out by themselves. For example, when they try to transfer an asset into their name, they will find that they have no right to do so and will be instructed to hire an attorney for probate. The probate procedure will vary slightly from state to state but the traditional probate proceedings will include the following steps:

Cost of probate:
Two nation wide studies showed an average of 4-10% of the gross estate is lost in probate. This is before any liabilities (such as mortgage or other debts are subtracted). There are two kinds of probate fees that you can expect: statutory and extraordinary fees. Statutory fees are established fees by a state legislature. Extraordinary fees are those charged by an attorney for additional services.

To find the reality of potential probate fees add up your gross estate before mortgage and debts.

$150,000 house
$ 25,000 cars
$ 75,000 personal property items
$300,000 stocks and cash funds
$550,000 total
Probate may take between
$22,000(4%) to $55,000 (10%)