Creating Opportunities Assisting Your Clients With Their Estate Plans

When you assist your clients with their estate plans you not only assist them with obtaining their estate planning documents, but also get to see their whole financial picture giving you the information you need to help them with their financial goals. In addition, you can gain perspective into their… Read More

The Necessity Of Probate In Arizona

Having assets in your name above a certain financial limit at the time of death leads to the estate going through probate in Arizona. Revocable trusts are usually recommended as a vehicle to avoid probate. Assets that do not pass automatically at the time of death such as joint tenancy… Read More

Digital Assets Part Of An Estate Plan

Recently Arizona passed a law that greatly increases individuals’ ability to control what happens to their digital assets after they die.  This has been passed in many states but in Arizona it can be found in Arizona Revised Statutes §14-131111, 14-131112 and 14-131113. We can’t tell you how many times the… Read More

Do Recent Tax Changes Pose A Threat To Estate Plans?

Not really according to a new survey from TD Wealth.  The survey found that 44% of estate planning professionals cite family fights as the biggest threat to estate planning in 2018.  Only 25% cite tax reform with the remaining 12% considering the volatility in the stock as the next largest… Read More

Asset Protection Laws In Arizona

The need for asset protection planning arises when you have to achieve your goals and protect your family wealth and assets from the claims of creditors. The tools used for asset protection planning may be used alone or paired with some other tools and strategies in order to achieve the… Read More

Will My Heirs Have Hurt Feelings Over My Personal Items? Short Answer: Probably

“The biggest estate-planning mistake is that people think it’s only about the money,” said Marlene Stum, a professor at the University of Minnesota and author of the “Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate?” workbook and website. “When it comes to their personal possessions, they say, ‘It’s just stuff.’ ” In my… Read More

“Only Older People Need Estate Plans”

Français: Enterrement à (Photo credit: Wikipedia) It isn’t a surprise to anyone that those typically motivated to do estate planning are those that have their mortality staring back at them. Examples include clients preparing for travel, life-challenging illnesses or individuals in advancing years. I don’t need to remind anyone that… Read More

“I don’t need an estate plan since I’m unaffected by the estate tax”

While this is a common misconception, I believe it mixes up two ideas, estate planning and estate tax planning. Estate tax planing is actually a small, but important, part of the overall estate planning process. Estate planning is about making sure your estate is in order and passes as you… Read More

Revocable Trusts, and Living Trusts, and Irrevocable Trusts! Oh, My!

But wait, there’s more; there’s Loving Trusts, Family Trusts, Grantor Retained Trusts and many more. Let’s start with revocable vs. irrevocable trusts. These are exactly what they say. The revocable trust can be changed, amended, and even thrown away. The irrevocable trust however rarely can be changed except for very… Read More