ABA Family Legal Guide

Estate Planning

Probate

What is probate?

Probate is the court-supervised legal procedure that determines the validity of a will. Probate affects some, but not all of your assets. Nonprobate assets include things like a life insurance policy paid directly to a beneficiary.

The term "probate" also is used in the larger sense of administering your estate. In this sense, probate means the process by which assets are gathered, applied to pay debts, taxes, and expenses of administration, and distributed to those designated as beneficiaries in the will. Though probate has become far less complex and costly in recent years, the law continues to require that a court have a role in the probate process, and a court will be at least minimally involved in the probating of all wills.