Q: Does joint accounts and retirement accounts with named beneficiary bypass probate?
My mother-in-law has put my wife on all of her checking/savings accounts as a joint account holder and named her as beneficiary of her retirement accounts. Her will (when she re-writes it) will leave $10K and a few certain items to my wife's sister and all remaining assets to my wife. There will be no real estate involved as she is selling her house and moving into a townhouse/independent living.
Will this setup avoid probate for the accounts? And will the sister-in-law be able to challenge it? She is currently estranged from the family. Mother-in-law resides in Kentucky.
A: That should be sufficient to avoid probate. The sister in law can always challenge the will as can any beneficiary, so that is a given.
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