Probate is the court process that settles an estate and transfers what the person owned. Not everything has to go through it. Life insurance with a named beneficiary skips probate, and so does a bank account with a payable-on-death designation, usually shortened to POD.
A POD designation is simple. You tell the bank who gets the money when you die. While you're alive, nothing changes. You can spend it, close it, or change the name whenever you like, and the person you named has no rights to the account. When you die, the beneficiary shows up at the bank with a death certificate and identification, and the bank pays them. No court is involved. Brokerage accounts offer something similar, usually called transfer-on-death.
Here's where it goes wrong. First, if the person you named dies before you and you never named anyone else, the account usually falls back into your estate, and then it needs probate. Second, if you name two people, the bank typically splits the money evenly unless you specify otherwise. Third, a POD designation overrides your will. If your will says everything is split among three children but the POD account lists only one, that one child gets the account. The post on what a will controls goes through this.
There's a fourth problem that people don't think about. If you move all your money into POD accounts, the estate may be left without enough cash to pay final bills, funeral costs, or taxes, while the beneficiaries hold the money. Executors need some cash to work with, which means an estate with every dollar in POD accounts can leave them paying bills out of pocket. The executor post lists what they pay for.
Joint ownership can override a POD, too. If the account has a co-owner, the surviving owner typically takes it, and the POD only matters if both owners are gone. Check how the title reads.
Here's a quick way to use this. Call each bank where you have an account. Ask if a POD beneficiary is on file, who it is, and whether a contingent one is listed. Then list every account in one place with its beneficiary, so you can see whether it matches what your will says. The five-minute beneficiary checkup does the same for life insurance and retirement accounts.
I'm a licensed insurance broker, not an attorney. For an Oregon estate with real property, trusts, or blended-family questions, an estate attorney should confirm the plan.