We have been led to believe by the legal profession that a Will is the ultimate answer to settling an estate. A Will does not avoid probate, in fact it makes probate mandatory.
Death is only part of the problem.
Most people will go through a period of illness prior to death. If this occurs, the Probate court may prematurely take control of the estate through guardianship proceedings and require your own family to follow court dictates. You lose total control over your affairs. Probate comes from a Latin term that means to examine or test. It has come to refer to the lethargic process where we transfer our wealth from one generation to another.