California Probate Code 13100 was recently revised to increase from $100,000 to $150,000 the size of a California estate (excluding real property) that can be collected without probate court administration. The size of  a decedent’s California real property that can be transferred without probate has been increased to $50,000. (Probate Code section 13200).

If you are a California resident, in reflecting on your own possible probate, understand that many assets are not subject to a probate court administration. For example, these assets are usually not part of probate at death: joint tenancy (where there is a surviving joint tenant); life insurance (where your named beneficiary survives); IRAs(where your named beneficiary survives) ; pension plan benefits (where your named beneficiary survives);  annuities (where your named beneficiary survives); pay-on-death (POD) beneficiary bank accounts(where your named beneficiary survives);  transfer on death (TOD) accounts at brokerage houses, covering stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. (where your named beneficiary survives); community property passing to a surviving spouse; trust assets; and estates of under $150,000 (excluding real property). As you can see, depending upon your particular assets, you may not need a living trust in order to avoid probate.

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