Yes! Everyone over the age of 18 needs an estate plan. The type and contents of estate plan will depend on your unique circumstances. Even if a person is young or has limited assets, everyone needs to plan for incapacity – one in three people will become incapacitated in their lifetime. The alternative for an incapacitated person is a public and costly court proceeding for a guardianship and conservatorship.

While both a Will and Trust state who should inherit your property, a basic Will can only provide outright distributions (for beneficiaries over 18) whereas a Trust can specify how, when, and under what circumstances should assets be distributed to beneficiaries. A Trust also includes financial incapacity planning and can protect a beneficiary’s inheritance from creditors and predators. Additionally, Wills must go through probate, a public court proceeding, while Trusts can avoid probate and keep your affairs private.

Yes. Planning for a disabled beneficiary may require a Special Needs Trust to ensure that the beneficiary remains eligible for benefits like Medicaid. We may also recommend Trusts to address the unique considerations of blended families, Trusts to hold and distribute retirement assets and Trusts designed for tax planning.

Probate is a court proceeding in which the Will (or lack thereof) is administered after a person’s death. An individual called the Personal Representative (Executor in other states) is appointed to handle the administration including gathering and inventorying assets, maintaining an accounting for the estate, dealing with creditors, filing a final tax return, distributing assets to heirs, etc.

Yes! Probate CAN be avoided. A few options: 1) create a Revocable Living Trust and transfer all of your assets to your trust, so when you pass, your Trust “survives” you and distributes your assets accordingly; 2) own assets jointly with a spouse (not a child!) so when the spouse passes no probate is required to transfer assets from the deceased spouse to the surviving spouse; or 3) review and add beneficiary designations to assets – an asset with a beneficiary designation will skip probate entirely.

Planning for incapacity means the right people will be making critical decisions for you when you are unable. This includes an agent to manage and make decisions about your healthcare and an agent to manage and make decisions about your finances. These agents can be appointed in a Healthcare Power of Attorney and Durable (Financial) Power of Attorney.

If someone becomes incapacitated and does not have a Healthcare Power of Attorney for healthcare decision making a court determined guardian must be appointed to manage the incapacitated person’s healthcare. If the incapacitated person does not have a Durable (Financial) Power of Attorney for financial decision making, a court determined conservator must be appointed to manage the incapacitated person’s finances. Guardianships and conservatorships are time consuming and often costly proceedings. Note: creating a Healthcare Power of Attorney and Durable Power of Attorney are ALWAYS cheaper than a guardianship and conservatorship!

Create a Last Will and Testament. Under Arizona law, the only place a parent may designate a guardian to care for a minor child is a Last Will and Testament. A Will is an absolute MUST for parents with minor children.

A Last Will and Testament is an estate planning document which states who should inherit your assets upon passing, who is in charge of administering your estate and who should care for minor children (if any). A Living Will is a healthcare document which states your wishes regarding medical care in end of life situations.

A Beneficiary Deed is a special type of deed that is used to transfer an owner’s interest in Arizona real property to another person or entity at death. The property owner creates a Beneficiary Deed during their lifetime which states who should inherit the property upon the owner’s passing. Upon the owner’s passing, a copy of the owner’s death certificate would be recorded which would then transfer title of the property to the beneficiary. A Beneficiary Deed can keep real estate out of probate.

Without an estate plan, you have no control as to whether beneficiary uses inheritance wisely. The best strategy to ensure an inheritance is well managed is to create a Revocable Living Trust giving a Trustee (someone you pick) authority to manage and disburse funds to the beneficiary. This protects the beneficiary from reckless or irresponsible spending, and may also be drafted to protect the beneficiary from predators, divorcing spouses and even the beneficiary’s creditors.