Best Estate Planning Attorneys in Casas Adobes, AZ

Intestacy is what happens when you die without a valid Will. The proceedings are generally similar to probate, except that state law, not your own wishes, determine who will act on your behalf, and who will receive your property.

In the most general terms, a trust is an arrangement with a Trustee (which can be one or more individuals or corporations) holding assets for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries, managing, controlling, and distributing those assets under the powers, discretions, and specific terms of the trust instrument.

A Living Trust offers two primary advantages from a Will because either method can be used to create Credit Shelter, Marital and Generation Skipping Trusts. The first advantage is that a Living Trust is established during your lifetime, and as such, it allows for management of your assets in the event of incapacity. Most individuals name themselves as the initial Trustees of their own trust, and nominate successor Trustees to serve when they cannot act. In the event of incapacity, this successor Trustee would manage the assets in the trust as provided in the trust, typically making payments and managing assets for your benefit and maintenance.

After creating a Living Trust, the next step is to fund it. This means transferring title of assets to the trust. For example, after creating a Living Trust for a married couple with a home, a brokerage account, and a life insurance policy, we would prepare a deed to transfer the home into the Living Trust, assist the clients to transfer the brokerage account into the name of the Living Trust and name the Trust as the beneficiary of the life insurance policy. This is necessary to avoid a probate administration. The time and effort necessary to fund a Living Trust thus can vary greatly depending on the nature and extent of your assets.

A Continuing Trust for a beneficiary represents any situation where you wish to delay outright distribution of an asset. For instance, if you have minor children, then you may wish to provide that if something happened to you, they will not receive their inheritance outright until age 25 or 30. Until the child attains the stated ages, the assets will be held in a trust for the child's benefit, with the Trustee paying any necessary or appropriate expenses, but not allowing the child to waste or dissipate the assets.