A revocable living trust is often used to help avoid probate. And in many cases, it does exactly that.
But there is one situation that surprises a lot of people: owning property in another state.
Even if you have a trust in place, that property can still go through probate if it was never properly transferred into the trust.
Here’s why.
Probate is handled at the state level. When someone passes away owning real estate in more than one state, each state has authority over the property located there. If that out-of-state property is still titled in your individual name, the court in that state may require its own probate process. This is often called an “ancillary probate.”
So instead of one probate in Georgia, your family could be dealing with multiple courts in different states at the same time.
This can add time, cost, and complexity, especially if your family is trying to coordinate everything from afar.
A trust can prevent this, but only if the property is actually titled in the name of the trust.
We see this happen more often than you might expect. Someone creates a trust, but a vacation home, rental property, or inherited land in another state is never transferred into it. On paper, they have a plan. In practice, that one asset can still trigger probate.
This is why funding your trust is just as important as creating it.
If you own property outside of Georgia, it is worth confirming how that property is titled and whether it has been properly transferred into your trust. A small detail now can make a significant difference for your family later.
