Before assessing whether life insurance or retirement accounts need to go through probate, it is crucial to understand what the probate process is. The probate process is the legal process of retitling assets held in the sole name of the decedent at death, and distributing them to the correctly identified heirs or beneficiaries. The requirements of the probate process will largely be dependent on the relevant laws within the state of last domicile for the decedent. Non-probate assets are those that avoid or bypass the probate process. Whether life insurance policies or retirement assets must be included in the probate process, will be dependent on whether the decedent completed beneficiary designation forms for the assets, before death. Generally, life insurance policies and retirement accounts will have beneficiaries listed on the paperwork held with the financial institution. The identified beneficiaries can contact the company directly to request the necessary paperwork to effectuate the distribution of the funds. Often a death certificate will also need to be submitted on behalf of the beneficiaries. There are occasionally instances where these assets will have to go through probate to be transferred, such as when there is no beneficiary designation or when the decedentís estate is listed as the recipient.