Payable on death is a designation allowed on bank accounts, for example. Theoretically, if a person designates a person/people/organizations to be paid on death, the account’s assets would pass to that person/organization outside the probate process and would not be considered assets of a decedent for purposes of their estate distribution. But, states are divided on how to treat POD designations on accounts. Some states agree that POD accounts are like nonprobate assets, but other states deem POD designations to be invalid.
