What are Probate Assets vs. Non-Probate Assets?

  Probate assets include assets for which the deceased person was the sole owner or jointly owned assets which lacked provisions for automatic succession of ownership at death.  Non-probate assets include jointly held property for which ownership includes the “right of survivorship.”  In this situation, the surviving owner automatically owns the property when the other owner dies.  Other examples of “non-probate assets” are  assets titled in the name of a trust or assets that have formal “beneficiary distribution” assignment to them, such as IRAs, life insurance policies, or payable-on-death accounts.