Probate in Mississippi: What Your Family Goes Through Without a Will

All wills go through probate in the state of Mississippi, however, there are some cases where it can be avoided. When someone dies without a will, this is called intestate succession. If you don’t want an estate to go through probate in Mississippi.will need to ensure you’ve done one of the following.

• Any life insurance policies that have a designated beneficiary.

• Any retirement accounts with a designated beneficiary.

• Any bank or brokerage accounts with a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designation.

• Any real estate with a recorded transfer-on-death deed.

If none of these apply, an estate without a will does go through probate in Mississippi. If the personal property is valued at $75,000 or less (raised from $50,000), and at least 30 days have passed since the death, you can potentially use a small estate affidavit rather than the full probate process.

Succession Laws Without a Will in Mississippi

Before determining who will inherit which assets, it is important to understand how Mississippi treats property ownership. Mississippi is a common law property state, not a community property state, meaning the name listed on the title, deed, or account becomes the new owner.

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If none of the exceptions above apply, the estate will go through probate and be distributed as follows.

• If you are married with no children, your spouse inherits everything.

• If you are married with children, Mississippi treats your spouse as one of the children. This means the estate is divided equally among your spouse and all of your children, so your spouse receives at least a child's share.

• If you have children but no spouse, your children inherit everything, divided equally.

• If you have no spouse and no children, your parents and siblings inherit together in equal shares. Mississippi treats them as a single class rather than prioritizing parents over siblings.

Mississippi Probate Process

Mississippi probate is handled through Chancery Court, a court of equity that also hears divorce, real property, and guardianship matters. Mississippi has no state estate or inheritance tax, and it also allows Muniment of Title, a shortcut available when a valid will devises Mississippi real property and the estate is small, letting the will itself serve as proof of ownership without appointing a full personal representative.

Avoiding Probate in Mississippi

Because probate is widely known for being a long and often expensive process, people sometimes wish to avoid it altogether. Here are some ways you can structure your estate to avoid probate.

• Put your assets in a revocable living trust: A living trust gives you full control over your estate as the trustee. You also name a successor trustee. That person will manage distributing your assets after your death.

• Name beneficiary designations on financial and retirement accounts using a payable-on-death (POD) designation or a transfer-on-death (TOD) designation to name a new owner for those accounts.

• Identify a beneficiary for real estate. Mississippi has allowed transfer-on-death deeds since 2020, which automatically name a new owner for that property upon your death.

• Establish joint ownership with right of survivorship to give your spouse or another co-owner automatic ownership of any joint property.

Want to learn more about trusts in Mississippi? This details what you’ll need to have for your trust to be complete.