Richard Keyt

Click to go to Richard's Digital Business Card

Richard Keyt is an Arizona wills, trusts, and estate planning attorney who wants to prepare an estate plan that protects your most valuable assets – your loved ones.  When people fail to plan, their loved ones pay the price and suffer the consequences.  If you are an Arizona resident, go to our online calendar to book a free office, phone, or Zoom video meeting with Richard to get answers to your questions and design your custom estate plan.  Learn Who Inherits Property of an Arizona Resident Who Dies without a Will or a Trust and take our short online quiz called Who Inherits Your Property.  Get Richard's free article called “13 Reasons Why You Need an Estate Plan.”  Read the 25 documents & services in our estate plans or watch our video explanation of the contents.

Richard Keyt formed the KEYTLaw law firm in 2001 when he left one of Arizona's largest law firms because he believed he could get clients from his website. Rick has been practicing Arizona law since 1980. He provides the following types of legal services: (1) preparing wills, trusts and estate plans, (2) forming Arizona limited liability companies (9,500+ since 2001), (3) forming Arizona nonprofit corporations (500+) and obtaining their IRS tax exemption letters, (4) preparing and reviewing contracts to buy and sell businesses, (5) preparing and reviewing contracts to buy, sell and lease Arizona real property, and (6) preparing and reviewing business contracts.

Rick and his son are the authors of an informational book called “Family Asset Protection,” which people say is a great way to learn about wills, trusts, and estate planning.  This free book is full of helpful illustrations.  Its purpose is to teach people how to protect their most valuable asset – their loved ones – from their death or incapacity.  See the contents and prices of his two estate plans and his wills & trusts website.

Rick represents start-ups and established businesses in a wide variety of business legal matters, such as forming new companies, commercial contracts of all types, and general legal issues. He assists companies in adopting Buy-Sell Agreements, which are essential for all valuable companies because they contain the owners' exit strategy after a death, disability, or other triggering event.

He has extensive experience representing business buyers and sellers, borrowers, and lenders in loan transactions. At one time, Rick was the Arizona attorney for one of the largest banks in the U.S. in connection with its loans secured by Arizona real estate.

Rick has represented buyers and sellers of raw land, commercial, residential, office, shopping centers, and industrial real estate, including multi-million dollar securitized loan transactions.

Rick is the author and creator of all of the KEYTLaw websites.  Rick's second book is the “Arizona LLC Operations Manual,” a 170+ page that explains legal and practical issues that arise in the operation of a limited liability company.

How to Make an Appointment with Richard Keyt

To make a free estate plan consultation or an appointment for a 5 – 30 minute phone call with Richard Keyt (the father)  go to Rick's online calendar and make an appointment.

Contact Information:

Direct Phone: 480-664-7478
Fax: 602-297-6890
Email: [email protected]

Physical Address:

KEYTLaw, L.L.C
7373 E. Doubletree Ranch Road, Suite 135
Scottsdale, AZ 85258

Martindale Hubbell Rating:

AV, which is the highest rating given by this respected national attorney rating service.

Education:

• New York University School of Law, New York, New York, 1980, L.L.M. masters degree in federal income taxation

• University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, Sacramento, California, 1979, J.D., Staff Member and Associate Managing Editor, Pacific Law Journal

• Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 1970, B.A., Bachelor of Arts

Former Firms:

• Gallagher & Kennedy, P.A. – Rick was a shareholder in the corporate, transactions, and intellectual property departments of one of the largest law firms in Arizona.

• Keyt Lawless Zarkou Cronin & O’Sullivan, P.C. – Rick was a founder and a shareholder in a boutique business law firm.

• Keyt & Lawless, P.A.- Rick and his partner of 17 years Tom Lawless started the firm in 1984 right after the birth of the KEYTLaw Girl

Admitted to Practice Law In:

• Arizona, 1979
• U.S. District Court, Arizona 1980
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, 1980

Arizona Bar Association Section Memberships:

• Business Law
• Probate and Trust Law

Affliations

• Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association, Life Member
• Penn State University Alumni Association, Life Member
• Xavier College Preparatory Dads Club, Life Member & Past President
• Brophy College Preparatory Dads Club, Life Member
• RAMMS Youth Baseball League, former coach, league commissioner, and director
• WealthCounsel – Member. WealthCounsel is an organization of 5,200+ estate planning attorneys working together as colleagues — not competitors — who have created the premier, cutting-edge document creation system in the estate planning field.

Family:

Married to Carol Keyt since 1972. Carol is KEYTLaw’s bookkeeper. Rick and Carol have three children. They all graduated from Arizona State University.

Daughter Kari, the oldest, is a Southwest Airlines flight attendant married to a Southwest Airlines captain.  She lives near the Woodlands, Texas, with her husband and two daughters.

Son Ricky graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in accounting. He also has a masters degree in accounting from Notre Dame University. Before attending law school Ricky was a CPA and worked as a tax accountant for a national accounting firm. Ricky graduated with a law degree from the Arizona State University School of Law in May of 2012.  He is a member of the Arizona Bar and a KEYTLaw, LLC attorney.  Ricky passed the February 2013 California Bar exam and is licensed to practice law in California.  He worked as a law clerk for KEYTLaw while in law school.

Daughter Katie graduated from Arizona State University with a major in communications.  She was Richard's LLC legal assistant for more than six years after graduating from ASU.  Katie is the first KEYTLaw Girl in our Youtube videos from 2012.  Katie is the mom of three young children.

Military Experience:

United States Air Force, 1970 – 1976; Honorable discharge as a Captain.

Member of the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association.

Rick flew the F-4 Phantom II supersonic (mach 2+) fighter bomber for five years in the USAF. The F-4E had a 20mm canon (a six-barreled gun capable of firing 6,000 rounds/minute) in the nose.  My typical ordinance load in the Vietnam war was 12 Mark 82 five hundred pound general purpose bombs – 6 on the center line and three under each wing. This was a typical ordinance load for close air support missions in 1972. The outboard stations under the wings carry two 360-gallon external fuel tanks that could be jettisoned if necessary for more range and better maneuverability.

Rick flew combat missions in 1972 over North Vietnam, South Vietnam & Laos while a member of the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron stationed at Korat Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand.

In the picture above, Rick's right-hand rests on an AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missile, and his left is on a 360-gallon external fuel tank. The yellowish rectangular strips above the wing and on the tail below the JJ are fluorescent lights for night formation flying.

Rick sat on nuclear alert as part of the single integrated operational plan (SIOP) with a one megaton (1,000,000 tons of TNT) nuclear bomb on his F-4 while stationed at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, in 1972 – 1973.  He also spent time on air defense alert and intercepted many Russian bombers approaching the coast of South Korea. F-4s on alert had to be airborne within ten minutes of being scrambled, which was always an adrenaline-pumping experience. Nothing quite like playing Monopoly or cards with the guys in the alert shack one minute and blasting into the sky five minutes later at 600+ knots in a supersonic jet fighter carrying four AIM-7 Sparrow radar-guided missiles, four AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles and 700 rounds of 20mm ammunition.

Rick was also an F-4 instructor for three years who taught F-4 student pilots and weapons system officers: (i) in the classroom (he taught aircraft general, weapons computer release system & combat mission planning), (ii) in the flight simulator, and (iii) airborne in the F-4 while in the 35th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron at George Air Force Base, California, 1973 – 1976.

Twice, Rick picked up brand new F-4s from the McDonnell Douglas factory in St Louis and flew them across the Atlantic Ocean to deliver them to Tehran, Iran, for the Iranian Air Force during the Shah of Iran's rule in 1974 and 1975.

You can read articles Rick wrote about flying the F-4 in combat in the Vietnam War in 1972 on his F-4 website, Flying the F-4 in Combat. You can also see some of my pictures from the Vietnam War.

To learn more about flying the F-4 Phantom, read my articles called:

• F-4 Close Air Support Combat Missions 1972

• 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron MiG Kills

• Four Ship Formation Take-Offs

• Thank You, Martin Baker

• USAF Officer Training School 1970

• College & the Military Draft