KEYTLaw Home
Estate Planning Home
AZ Law Home
Free Seminar Schedule
Estate Planning FAQ
IRA Inheritance Trust
EP Prep Service
Anna Nicole's Will
The Wealth Advisor
Your Family Matters
Practicing w/o License
About Rick Keyt
Contact Information
Office Map

Home  Estate Planning Library  

Arizona Estate Plan Preparation Service

A KEYTLaw basic estate plan for Arizona residents consists of the following documents and services:

1. Initial conference with Arizona estate planning attorney Richard Keyt to discuss your estate plan.

2. Preparation of a Will to dispose of your probate assets.  If you have minor children, your Will is the document where you name one or more people to be the guardian(s) of your children if something happens to you.

3. Preparation of a Personal Property Memorandum to dispose of certain tangible assets without modifying your Will.

4. Preparation of a Durable General Power of Attorney that authorizes somebody to handle your financial affairs if you are incapacitated.

5. Preparation of a Living Will that authorizes a doctor to pull the plug if you are being kept alive by a machine.

6. Preparation of a Healthcare Power of Attorney that authorizes somebody you designate to make healthcare decisions for you if you are incapacitated.

7. Preparation of a Healthcare Power of Attorney for Minors.  This is an important document for parents of children under age 18 because the parent(s) designate another family member or friend to make healthcare decisions for an injured minor child if both parents are incapacitated or deceased.

8. Preparation of a HIPAA Authorization, which is a document that authorizes your healthcare providers to give information about your health and medical condition and treatment to your designated agent.

9. Preparation of a Mental Healthcare Power of Attorney that authorizes somebody you designate to make healthcare decisions for you about your mental health if you are incapacitated.

10. Preparation of an Organ Donation Declaration (if you want to donate any of your organs).

11. Delivery of a detailed 12 page fill in the blanks Post Mortem Wishes document that you can use to tell your family how you want to be remembered.

12. Delivery of a detailed 8 page fill in the blanks List of Important Documents that you can use to tell your family about the existence and location of your important documents, including life insurance information.

13. Pet Emergency Care Giver Notification card.  Carry this card in your wallet or purse to inform people that you have a pet and the name and phone number of your emergency pet care giver.

14. Preparation of a written summary of your estate plan and documents.

15. Conference to sign your estate plan documents.

16. If you purchase a trust, we purchase for you a one year Docubank membership ($54 value per person) - an online service that can fax or email your Living Will, Healthcare Power of Attorney, and Organ Donation Declaration to any person or entity requested by you or by an authorized person.

17. High quality Estate Planning Portfolio that contains all of your estate plan documents.

18. A CD that contains a digital version of all of your estate plan documents in Adobe .PDF format.  We will make up to five CDs for you at no additional charge if you want to give them to family members, your accountant, financial planner or others.

Arizona attorney Richard Keyt prepares all of the above-referenced custom documents and provides the specified services for: (i) $495 for an unmarried person, or (ii) $745 for a married couple, but if you do not purchase a trust at the same time, there is an additional $250 fee.  The fee includes unlimited phone calls to Richard Keyt for answers to your Arizona estate planning questions.

No Charge for Changes Within First Three Months

We do not charge any legal fees for any changes you want to make to your estate planning documents within the first three months after our signing conference.  We give you a lot of paper, but we want you to be able to review everything you sign at your leisure so you can be sure everything is correct.  If, within the first three months after signing your documents, you find a problem with your estate plan or want to change any document we prepare, let us know and we will revise the documents as necessary at no additional cost to you.

Living Trusts

The heart of an estate plan is the revocable Living Trust (RLT).  We believe that almost everyone with substantial assets should have an RLT.  The primary reasons people create an RLT are:

1. To provide for the management of their property if they are incapacitated.

2. To avoid probate of assets after death.

3. To keep their financial affairs confidential (probate court documents are open to the public).

4. To provide for the disposition of their assets after death to their designated beneficiaries either: (i) outright, (ii) over a period of time or (iii) for the life of one or more beneficiaries.  The latter choice is best for maximum asset protection for the beneficiary.

5. It can be one of the best asset protection methods for your beneficiaries if the Trust is drafted properly.  For example, if the Trust is properly drafted and assets are held in Trust and not distributed unnecessarily to a beneficiary, the beneficiary's creditors (including a bankruptcy court) and predators (ex-spouses, con-men and con-women) can never get the assets.  If you have children or loved ones that you want to protect and if they may inherit a lot of money or property, asset protection may be the most important reason to create an RLT.

6. To save as much as $900,000 in federal estate taxes - for married people with joint estates that exceed $4,000,000 (2007 - 2008).  Beginning in 2011, the estate tax exemption amount will be $1,000,000, which means that if a person who dies after 2010 with an estate of more than $1,000,000 including life insurance, the estate tax will be 55% of the excess over $1,000,000.  A properly drafted trust can save as much as $550,000 in estate taxes for a married couple after 2010.

Trust Costs

We will prepare a deed to transfer your home to your trust at no additional charge, but the trust fees do not include assistance in transferring other assets to a trust.  I will give you detailed funding instructions on how to transfer your assets to your trust, but it will be your responsibility to take the action necessary to actually transfer your assets.  My legal assistant can assist you in transferring assets to your trust, but we will charge you $150 an hour for her services.

For general information about Arizona estate planning and related issues, see my article entitled "Arizona Estate Planning FAQ."

Attend Rick Keyt's Free Monthly Estate Planning Seminar

Do not procrastinate.  Take the first step now toward protecting your loved ones by creating a good estate plan.  Sign up to attend one of Arizona estate planning attorney Richard Keyt's free (no obligation) monthly seminars on Wills, Trusts and estate planning held in central Phoenix, Arizona.  See the flyer for the next seminars.  Contact Richard Keyt at rickkeyt@keytlaw.com or 602-906-4953, ext. 101 if you would like Rick to schedule a talk on estate planning for your group.

How To Make a Reservation for a Free Estate Planning Seminar

If you would like to attend one of Richard Keyt's free estate planning seminars, call our reservation line at 800-921-6856.  Our customer service representative will take your reservation 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

How to Hire Richard Keyt to Prepare Your Estate Plan

To hire Richard Keyt to assist you in designing your estate plan and to prepare your estate plan documents, do the following:

1.  Single Person Questionnaire

2.  Married Couple Questionnaire

Richard Keyt

3001 East Camelback, Suite 130

Phoenix, Arizona 85016

If you have any questions about Arizona estate planning, the process, fees or anything else, call Rick at 602-906-4953, extension 101.  There is no charge for inquiries about preparing estate planning documents.

Arizona Estate Planning Attorney

To hire Richard Keyt to assist you in designing your estate plan and to prepare your estate plan documents, complete the appropriate online Estate Planning Questionnaire for a single person or a married couple and mail it to Rick.

This page was last modified on September 27, 2007.

Privacy Policy | Disclaimers | Terms of Use | Suggestions  | Credit Card Security