Interactive Estate Tax & Probate Exposure Quiz
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Get the fillable document, the editable version, and an action checklist:
The short version (2026):
- The 8-question quiz below scores your probate and estate-tax exposure and hands you a prioritized fix list with the right tool for each gap.
- Probate exposure is about titling, not wealth: solely owned assets with no beneficiary go through court whether the estate is $80,000 or $8 million.
- Federal estate tax touches almost nobody (the 2026 exemption is $15 million per person), but about a dozen states tax at far lower levels, Oregon from $1 million.
- The quiz is triage, not math. For the actual numbers, our estate-tax and probate-cost calculators do the arithmetic.
How Exposed Is Your Estate, Really?
Most people carry a vague unease about “the estate stuff” without knowing which risks actually apply to them. The truth is diagnosable in two minutes: probate exposure comes from how your assets are titled, tax exposure comes from how much you own and where you live, and family exposure comes from documents you haven’t signed. Each has a specific, usually inexpensive fix; the trick is knowing which ones are yours.
Answer the eight questions below honestly. The quiz scores your exposure, explains which factors drove the score, and routes you to the specific guide or calculator for each fix. No email required; the results render right here.
Take the Estate Exposure Quiz
Estate Tax & Probate Exposure Quiz (2026)
Eight questions, scored in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent.
Scoring is explained in the table below the quiz. Federal estate tax applies above $15 million per person for 2026 deaths; about a dozen states tax at much lower thresholds (Oregon from $1 million). This tool is general information, not legal advice.
The quiz is a triage tool built on the factors below, not a legal opinion; complex estates, blended families, and business owners should treat “High” as a see-an-attorney signal, not a shopping list.
What “Probate Exposure” Actually Means
Probate is the court process that transfers assets titled solely in your name with no designated beneficiary. That last clause is the whole game. A $2 million IRA with a named beneficiary skips court entirely; a $150,000 house titled only in your name doesn’t. Exposure therefore rises with: solely titled real estate, accounts without beneficiary designations, the absence of a will (which makes the same process slower and more contentious), property in a second state (triggering a second “ancillary” probate there), and a living trust that was signed but never funded, which is legally a binder, not a shield.
Cost scales with the exposure: typical estates spend roughly 3–7% of gross value on the process, and statutory-fee states sit at the top of that band; our probate cost estimator computes your state’s actual schedule (California’s alone runs $26,000 on a $500,000 gross estate). Small estates get an escape hatch: below your state’s threshold, a small estate affidavit replaces the whole proceeding.
The Federal Tax Bar Is High; State Bars Aren’t
The current thresholds for all 13 estate-tax jurisdictions, each verified against the state revenue department, live in our estate tax by state table.
The federal estate tax now starts at $15 million per person for 2026 deaths ($30 million for a married couple), a level made permanent by the 2025 tax law, which is why the quiz treats federal exposure as rare (IRS: Estate Tax). The commonly missed risk is the state layer: about a dozen states plus D.C. levy their own estate tax at far lower thresholds, with Oregon starting at $1 million and Massachusetts at $2 million, and a handful of states add inheritance taxes paid by the recipient. A perfectly ordinary house-plus-retirement estate in Portland or Boston can owe state tax while being nowhere near the federal line. For the actual arithmetic on your numbers, use the estate tax calculator; the quiz only flags whether you should bother.
How the Quiz Scores You (Full Transparency)
No mystery math; each answer maps to a documented risk factor:
| Factor | Why It Scores | The Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No signed will | Intestacy: the state formula picks heirs, administrators, and guardians | Will template |
| No trust, or unfunded trust | Solely titled assets head to court; unfunded trusts protect nothing | Living trust template |
| Stale beneficiary designations | Designations override the will; blanks drag accounts into probate | Update the forms directly |
| Solely titled home | Real estate is the classic probate driver | Trust or TOD deed where available |
| Out-of-state property | A second probate in a second state | Trust titling usually solves both |
| Minor children, no guardian designation | A judge chooses without your input | Guardian designation |
| Estate size and state | $15M+ federal territory; ~a dozen states tax from $1M–$7M; CA statutory fees scale with gross value | Calculators, then an estate attorney at the top end |
Most High scores trace back to one missing document. LawDepot’s builders create your will or living trust step by step.
Reading Your Result
Low exposure usually means your titling already routes around the court: keep beneficiaries current and revisit after every major life event. Moderate typically means one or two structural gaps, most often a will that exists while the house sits solely titled, or a trust nobody funded; the fix list is short and cheap. High means the expensive version of events is currently scheduled: no will, exposed real estate, and stale designations compound each other, and if you’re in a statutory-fee state the bill is calculable to the dollar. Work the quiz’s fix list top-down; the will and beneficiary forms are same-week tasks, the trust is a same-month one.
The Probate-Avoidance Toolkit at a Glance
| Tool | What It Moves Out of Probate | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Funded living trust | Everything retitled into it, home included | An afternoon to create, an errand per asset to fund |
| Beneficiary designations | Retirement accounts, life insurance, POD/TOD accounts | Minutes per institution |
| Transfer-on-death deed | The home, in the states that allow it | One recorded deed |
| Joint ownership with survivorship | Jointly held property to the co-owner | Titling choice; mind the tax and control trade-offs |
| Small estate affidavit | Whole estates under the state threshold | After death; no advance planning needed |
Notice what’s absent: the will. It’s the foundation document for naming people, and it deserves to be signed this week, but it routes probate rather than avoiding it. The toolkit above is what actually empties the court’s inbox.
When to Skip the Templates and Call an Attorney
Templates handle titling problems; attorneys handle judgment problems. Bring in professional drafting when the quiz’s inputs include a taxable or near-taxable estate, a business you own, a blended family or an heir you intend to disinherit, a beneficiary with a disability (whose inheritance belongs in a special needs trust, not a direct gift), or any real prospect of a contest. The honest division of labor: do the cheap structural fixes yourself, then pay for advice on the parts with adversaries or tax stakes.
Common Exposure Mistakes
- Believing the will avoids probate. It directs probate; titling and designations avoid it.
- Signing a trust and never funding it. Retitling the house into the trust is the step that does the work.
- Ignoring state estate taxes. The federal $15M headline hides a dozen state thresholds as low as $1M.
- Forgetting the second state. The lake cabin triggers ancillary probate; its deed deserves trust or TOD treatment first.
- Treating the quiz as advice. It’s a flashlight, not a lawyer; blended families, business owners, and taxable estates need professional drafting.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the quiz actually measure?
Structural exposure: how much of your estate would pass through probate as currently titled, whether estate taxes plausibly apply, and which core documents are missing. It routes each gap to the tool that fixes it.
Is my data stored anywhere?
No. The quiz runs entirely in your browser on this page; nothing you click is sent or saved.
Who pays federal estate tax in 2026?
Estates above $15 million per person ($30 million per couple), a threshold made permanent by the 2025 tax law. Very few estates reach it, which is why state-level taxes with $1M–$7M thresholds are the more common surprise.
Which states have their own estate tax?
About a dozen states plus D.C., with thresholds far below the federal line; Oregon’s begins at $1 million and Massachusetts’s at $2 million. A few others levy inheritance taxes on recipients instead, and Maryland has both.
How is this different from the estate-tax and probate calculators?
The quiz is triage: it tells you which risks you have. The estate tax calculator and probate cost estimator are the math: they tell you how big those specific numbers are.
I scored Low. Am I done?
You’re current, not finished. Beneficiary designations drift, states change thresholds, and every marriage, divorce, birth, or move re-opens the file. Re-run the quiz after major life events.
I scored High. Do I need a lawyer or a template?
Usually both, in order: the will, beneficiary updates, and guardian designation are safe DIY moves this week, and if the score came from estate size, business ownership, or family complexity, take the finished homework to an estate attorney.
Two Minutes of Questions, a Decade of Order
Exposure isn’t fate; it’s a to-do list nobody handed you. Take the quiz, let it hand you the list, and knock out the top item this week. The estates that sail through are never the richest ones; they’re the ones where somebody answered these eight questions while the answers were still cheap.
If the quiz points at probate exposure, a funded living trust is usually the fix. LawDepot builds yours step by step.
Sources & References
This guide is fact-checked against the following official and authoritative sources:
- IRS — Estate Tax
- Cornell LII — Probate
- Cornell LII — Estate Planning
- California Probate Code §10810 (statutory fees)
Fact-checked: July 2026 · ClearLegalTips editorial team. This is legal information, not legal advice.
Sarah Jenkins writes about family law and estate planning for ClearLegalTips. She focuses on making wills, trusts, divorce, and custody decisions understandable for everyday readers handling them without a lawyer.
