Run every asset through one matrix: probate exposure, basis step-up, creditor reach, gift-tax event, incapacity coverage.
Each titling method optimizes a different variable, and choosing by habit costs real money. Revocable living trust: full probate avoidance in every state, privacy, incapacity coverage — but no creditor protection or estate-tax benefit. JTWROS: free and automatic, but half-step-up only, gift on creation with non-spouses, and exposure to the co-owner's creditors. TOD/POD: free, keeps 100% step-up, no gift — but no incapacity or contingency planning. LLC/FLP: liability containment plus valuation discounts on gifted interests — with filing costs and possible loss of the primary-residence §121 exclusion. Community property (or an AK/TN community property trust): the only route to a full double step-up at the first spouse's death. The right answer is usually a layered one: RLT as the backbone, TOD for simple accounts, LLC for rentals, TBE or homestead for the residence.
Click Generate advisory deep dive for mechanics, IRC citations, a step-by-step execution plan, a worked numeric example on your profile, costs, risks, and this-week actions.
Retitle assets into a fully-amendable trust: skip probate entirely, keep the transfer private, retain 100% control.
An unfunded revocable trust avoids nothing. Retitle deeds, brokerage, LLC interests and business shares in the right order.
Married-couple-only titling in ~25 states makes the asset unreachable by ONE spouse's individual creditors.
Transfer-on-death and payable-on-death registrations move brokerage, bank, and (in 30+ states) real estate outside probate at zero cost.
Out-of-state real estate triggers a separate probate in each state. A trust or LLC collapses them into one.
Title passes automatically to the survivor with no probate — free to set up, but with real basis and creditor tradeoffs.