With the help of an estate planning lawyer, you can get most of your assets to pass to their intended beneficiaries without the assets going through the probate court. In addition to placing assets in a trust, you can add transfer on death (TOD) or payable on death (POD) provisions to your bank accounts and investment accounts. You can also keep assets out of your probate estate the old-fashioned way, too, namely by gifting property to the intended beneficiaries of your estate while you are alive. For example, the annual gift tax exclusion enables you to give $11 million in cash gifts over your lifetime without the need to file a gift tax return, provided that no recipient receives more than $15,000 in gifts from you in any given year.