Will a simple will done online keep our property out of probate upon our deaths?

In Florida, wills must be probated. The will provides direction for how your assets are to be distributed at death.  The will is submitted to the probate court. The probate judge issues "letters of administration" to the personal representative. A will allows you to direct where your assets are to be distributed. With no will, the probate court must distribute assets according to the intestacy statute. Probate is avoided with beneficiary designations, owning property jointly with right of survivorship, or with payable on death designations.  Such assets pass automatically to the beneficiary, the joint owner, or the payable on death designee, by operation of law upon the death of the owner. You can also avoid probate through the use of a revocable living trust. A revocable living trust is established by a person while alive, and essentially all assets are retitled to the trust and beneficiary designations are made to the trust for life insurance policies and even retirement plans, if the trust has the proper language.  Through the use of the revocable living trust an individual can avoid probate, ensure that assets will go to the people who are desired to receive the assets, avoid issues with incapacity causing a loss of control over the assets, and avoid the issues that often arise when the owner of the account lives longer than the person designated as a beneficiary, as well as issues involving the designated beneficiary being incapacitated and unable to manage assets, or if the beneficiary has exposure to creditors when the asset is transferred.  Similar problems arise with joint ownership and payable on death designations. Discuss your options with an estate planning attorney before you rely on a will prepared online. An online will may seem cheaper, but often results in problems, and will often fail.  The following link is a Florida Supreme Court case decided this year where Justice Barbara Parente commented: "While I appreciate that there are many individuals in this state who might have difficulty affording a lawyer, this case does remind me of the old adage “penny-wise and pound-foolish.” Obviously, the cost of drafting a will through the use of a pre-printed form is likely substantially lower than the cost of hiring a knowledgeable lawyer. However, as illustrated by this case, the ultimate cost of utilizing such a form to draft one’s will has the potential to far surpass the cost of hiring a lawyer at the outset. In a case such as this, which involved a substantial sum of money, the time, effort, and expense of extensive litigation undertaken in order to prove a testator’s true intent after the testator’s death can necessitate the expenditure of much more substantial amounts in attorney’s fees than was avoided during the testator’s life by the use of a pre-printed form." http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2014/sc11-2147.pdf