Q: I have a house I would like my daughter to inherit without going through probate. How can I do that? Bernice McGill, Sylmar, Calif.

A: You could put the house in a revocable trust, which are common in California, and provide in the trust that it goes to your daughter upon your death, says Bruce Steiner, a tax and trusts and estates attorney at Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen in New York City. And, you can reserve the right to change or revoke that provision.

You might also want to provide for your daughter in trust (in your will or revocable trust) rather than outright, to keep the daughter's inheritance out of her (the daughter's) estate, and to protect it against the daughter's creditors and spouses, Steiner says.

You should also consider your other assets, and not just this one asset, Steiner says.

Robert Powell is editor of Retirement Weekly, contributes regularly to USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch and teaches at Boston University.