This is the fifth column in a series about avoiding probate, prompted by a challenge from a reader who believes that lawyer “estate chasers” are the new “ambulance chasers”.

If there’s no estate, there’s no probate. Lawyers can’t “get rich” (his words) representing those who are fighting over a non-existent estate.

The first two columns had to do with eliminating your wealth before you die. I started with my favourite—spend your money while you can enjoy it. Then I moved on to giving it away while you’re alive rather than leaving an inheritance to be enjoyed after you’re dead.

I started a three-column mini-series about joint tenancy, which is one of the ways that wealth can be passed to your intended beneficiaries outside of your estate.

Joint tenancy deprives the government of probate fees. It also pulls the asset away from the line of fire of an estate fight. It does this with its distinctive “right of survivorship” where the deceased’s title is extinguished on death leaving title with the surviving joint tenant.

If you haven’t been following along, please go back and read from the start of the series. If you have trouble finding those previous columns let me know and I’ll help you.

In the first two columns of the joint tenancy mini-series, I explained the concept of “beneficial........

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