Correct but people need to remember the D stands for death. You need to have POAs in place so someone can access your money is you become disabled. How do your bills get paid otherwise if you are disabled? A conservatorship which is a probate during life and much worse than a probate after death (expensive, public and cumbersome).
As for the California transfer on death deeds title companies are not honoring these as people failed to record the warning page with it. Look it up. Title companies (who are above the supreme court in reality) have made people go through probate even though they put transfer on death deeds in place. It's a big mess.
A properly funded living trust avoids all these problems. In a high probate cost state, like Cali, a trust is mandatory for anybody in my opinion. I should add I am an attorney and do not do trusts. I do other facets in the estate world. I am just stating facts to help people.
People can dance around it, try to save money with Nolo (and others), but at the end of the day people should hire an experienced estate attorney to do their trust. I have cleaned up countless DIYer wills after death and it's cost families tens of thousands of dollars because their loved ones tried to "save" a few bucks. People who think they know what they are doing often do not and it's found out after death when it's too late.
