Asked in Estate Planning and Probate for Virginia

Q: Is it possible to use joint ownership of accounts to avoid probate and transfer money to a non-joint owner heir?

Joint Owner 1 and Joint Owner 2 own Account A (with rights of survivorship).

Joint Owner 2 and Joint Owner 3 own Account B.

JO1 dies. JO2 has access to all the funds in Account A without going through probate.

JO2 can move funds from Account A into Account B. JO3 now has access to the funds in Account B without going through probate.

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: Yes.

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