Should I jointly title everything with my child to avoid probate?
It's one of the most common DIY probate-avoidance strategies — and it's the one we most strongly recommend against. Yes, joint titling with a child does keep the asset out of probate, because when you pass away the child becomes the sole owner. But the price for that shortcut is almost always higher than people realize.
The Creditor Problem
Your asset becomes their asset — to everyone.
The moment you add a child to the title of your home, bank account, or investment account, that asset legally belongs to them too. If your child is later sued, divorced, or pursued by a creditor, the creditor doesn't see it as 'really mom's house' — they see it as your child's asset, and they can come after it. There is no quiet explanation that fixes this. Once their name is on the title, the law treats them as an owner with full creditor exposure.
That single risk has cost more families their homes and savings than almost any other estate planning shortcut we see. A revocable living trust accomplishes the same probate-avoidance goal without ever giving creditors a foothold.
The Family Problem
It can quietly disinherit your other children.
Most clients who add a child to a title do it for convenience — usually with just one child, often the one who lives nearby or helps the most — even when they have multiple children. The assumption is that the chosen child will simply hand the proceeds out to their siblings after the parent passes. But legally, they don't have to.
When the parent dies and only one child's name is on the home, that child is now the sole owner. The other siblings have no legal recourse, even if everyone in the family thought the parent intended an equal split. Whether out of disagreement, financial pressure, or a new spouse's influence, the child whose name is on the title controls what happens — and 'this is really mom's' carries no legal weight at that point.
A Better Path
There are safer ways to skip probate.
Avoiding probate is a worthwhile goal — but joint titling is the wrong tool for it. A revocable living trust avoids probate, keeps creditors away from your assets during your lifetime, and lets you direct precisely how each child or beneficiary should be treated after you're gone. Beneficiary deeds, payable-on-death designations on bank accounts, and properly named retirement beneficiaries can also reduce probate exposure without giving up control or exposing assets to a child's creditors.
If avoiding probate matters to you, that's exactly the kind of conversation Nicole wants to have. There's almost always a structure that gets you the result you want without the risks that come with putting a child on the title.
Ready when you are
Skip probate the right way.
Schedule a flat-fee planning session to talk through trusts, beneficiary deeds, and other tools that keep your home out of probate without putting it in your child's name.