Book Free Meeting

Why You Need an Estate Plan that Protects Your Loved Ones

[fusion_builder_container type=”flex” hundred_percent=”no” hundred_percent_height=”no” min_height_medium=”” min_height_small=”” min_height=”” hundred_percent_height_scroll=”no” align_content=”stretch” flex_align_items=”flex-start” flex_justify_content=”flex-start” flex_wrap_medium=”” flex_wrap_small=”” flex_wrap=”wrap” flex_column_spacing=”” hundred_percent_height_center_content=”yes” equal_height_columns=”no” container_tag=”div” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” status=”published” publish_date=”” class=”” id=”” spacing_medium=”” margin_top_medium=”” margin_bottom_medium=”” spacing_small=”” margin_top_small=”” margin_bottom_small=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” padding_dimensions_medium=”” padding_top_medium=”” padding_right_medium=”” padding_bottom_medium=”” padding_left_medium=”” padding_dimensions_small=”” padding_top_small=”” padding_right_small=”” padding_bottom_small=”” padding_left_small=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” link_hover_color=”” link_color=”” border_sizes=”” border_sizes_top=”” border_sizes_right=”” border_sizes_bottom=”” border_sizes_left=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_radius_top_left=”” border_radius_top_right=”” border_radius_bottom_right=”” border_radius_bottom_left=”” box_shadow=”no” box_shadow_vertical=”” box_shadow_horizontal=”” box_shadow_blur=”0″ box_shadow_spread=”0″ box_shadow_color=”” box_shadow_style=”” z_index=”” overflow=”” background_color_medium=”” background_color_small=”” background_color=”” gradient_start_color=”” gradient_end_color=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ background_image_medium=”” background_image_small=”” background_image=”” skip_lazy_load=”” background_position_medium=”” background_position_small=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat_medium=”” background_repeat_small=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_size_medium=”” background_size_small=”” background_size=”” background_custom_size=”” background_custom_size_medium=”” background_custom_size_small=”” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_blend_mode_medium=”” background_blend_mode_small=”” background_blend_mode=”none” background_slider_images=”” background_slider_position=”” background_slider_skip_lazy_loading=”no” background_slider_loop=”yes” background_slider_pause_on_hover=”no” background_slider_slideshow_speed=”5000″ background_slider_animation=”fade” background_slider_direction=”up” background_slider_animation_speed=”800″ background_slider_blend_mode=”” video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” video_preview_image=”” pattern_bg=”none” pattern_custom_bg=”” pattern_bg_color=”” pattern_bg_style=”default” pattern_bg_opacity=”100″ pattern_bg_size=”” pattern_bg_blend_mode=”normal” mask_bg=”none” mask_custom_bg=”” mask_bg_color=”” mask_bg_accent_color=”” mask_bg_style=”default” mask_bg_opacity=”100″ mask_bg_transform=”left” mask_bg_blend_mode=”normal” render_logics=”” logics=”” absolute=”off” absolute_devices=”small,medium,large” sticky=”off” sticky_devices=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_background_color=”” sticky_height=”” sticky_offset=”” sticky_transition_offset=”0″ scroll_offset=”0″ animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_color=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_delay=”0″ animation_offset=”” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ align_self=”auto” content_layout=”column” align_content=”flex-start” valign_content=”flex-start” content_wrap=”wrap” spacing=”” center_content=”no” column_tag=”div” link=”” target=”_self” link_description=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” type_medium=”” type_small=”” flex_grow_medium=”” flex_grow_small=”” flex_grow=”” flex_shrink_medium=”” flex_shrink_small=”” flex_shrink=”” order_medium=”0″ order_small=”0″ dimension_spacing_medium=”” dimension_spacing_small=”” dimension_spacing=”” dimension_margin_medium=”” dimension_margin_small=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” padding_medium=”” padding_small=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” hover_type=”none” border_sizes=”” border_color_hover=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_radius=”” box_shadow=”no” dimension_box_shadow=”” box_shadow_blur=”0″ box_shadow_spread=”0″ box_shadow_color=”” box_shadow_style=”” z_index_hover=”” z_index=”” overflow=”” background_type=”single” background_color_medium=”” background_color_small=”” background_color_medium_hover=”” background_color_small_hover=”” background_color_hover=”” background_color=”” gradient_start_color=”” gradient_end_color=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ background_image_medium=”” background_image_small=”” background_image=”” background_image_id_medium=”” background_image_id_small=”” background_image_id=”” lazy_load=”none” skip_lazy_load=”” background_position_medium=”” background_position_small=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat_medium=”” background_repeat_small=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_size_medium=”” background_size_small=”” background_size=”” background_custom_size=”” background_custom_size_medium=”” background_custom_size_small=”” background_blend_mode_medium=”” background_blend_mode_small=”” background_blend_mode=”none” background_slider_images=”” background_slider_position=”” background_slider_skip_lazy_loading=”no” background_slider_loop=”yes” background_slider_pause_on_hover=”no” background_slider_slideshow_speed=”5000″ background_slider_animation=”fade” background_slider_direction=”up” background_slider_animation_speed=”800″ background_slider_blend_mode=”” render_logics=”” sticky=”off” sticky_devices=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_offset=”” absolute=”off” absolute_props=”” filter_type=”regular” filter_hover_element=”self” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″ transform_type=”regular” transform_hover_element=”self” transform_scale_x=”1″ transform_scale_y=”1″ transform_translate_x=”0″ transform_translate_y=”0″ transform_rotate=”0″ transform_skew_x=”0″ transform_skew_y=”0″ transform_scale_x_hover=”1″ transform_scale_y_hover=”1″ transform_translate_x_hover=”0″ transform_translate_y_hover=”0″ transform_rotate_hover=”0″ transform_skew_x_hover=”0″ transform_skew_y_hover=”0″ transform_origin=”” transition_duration=”300″ transition_easing=”ease” transition_custom_easing=”” motion_effects=”” scroll_motion_devices=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_color=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_delay=”0″ animation_offset=”” last=”true” border_position=”all” first=”true”][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” user_select=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_color=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_delay=”0″ animation_offset=”” logics=””]

I’m Arizona wills & trusts lawyer Richard Keyt. You expressed an interest in adopting a will, a trust and an estate plan to protect your most valuable assets – your loved ones.

My son, Arizona estate planning attorney Richard C. Keyt, and I have drafted wills, trusts, and estate plans for 1,000+ clients. We have 301 five-star Google reviews because people love our high-quality, reasonably priced legal services.

[/fusion_text][fusion_youtube id=”https://youtu.be/1FFRi7hXbkQ?si=HFEv_m4B8pnRm8qK” alignment=”center” width=”” height=”” start_time=”” end_time=”” autoplay=”true” mute=”false” api_params=”” title_attribute=”” video_facade=”” thumbnail_size=”auto” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” css_id=”” structured_data=”off” video_upload_date=”” video_duration=”” video_title=”” video_desc=”” /][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” user_select=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” fusion_font_family_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_text_font=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_transform=”” text_color=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_color=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_delay=”0″ animation_offset=”” logics=””]

Why You Need an Estate Plan

The purpose of an estate plan with a trust, a will, a living will, a healthcare power of attorney, and a financial power of attorney is to protect your most valuable assets – your loved ones. When people fail to plan, their loved ones suffer.  I urge you to read the reasons why you need an estate plan set forth below because I’m sure that many of the reasons apply to you.  It’s time to learn what you must do to protect your loved ones.

Here are reasons why you need an estate plan with a revocable living trust:

1.  To protect your loved ones.  If you do not have a trust, a will, a healthcare power of attorney, a living will, and a financial power of attorney, your loved ones will pay the price of your failure to plan.  Adopt an estate plan now so your loved ones will not have to deal with the problems they will experience if you don’t have all the estate plan documents.  A 2023 study by LegalShield found that 90% of Americans say having a will is important, but less than 50% actually have one. The survey found that without proper estate planning, 58% of respondents experienced family disputes and had assets fall under court control. 

2. To make sure the right people inherit your assets. If you do not have a will or a trust, your state of residence has a law that determines who will inherit your assets. Your state’s inheritance plan may cause your assets to go to the wrong person or people. To learn who will inherit your assets if you are an Arizona resident and die without a will or a trust, see our article called “Who Inherits Your Property If You Die without a Will or a Trust.”  If you have a will or a trust, then you determine who will inherit your assets, not your state of residence.

3. To leave your assets to your loved ones in a lifetime asset-protected trust. There are two ways your loved ones can inherit your assets: (1) outright with no asset protection, or (2) inside an irrevocable trust that protects the inherited assets from your loved one’s creditors, ex-spouses and bankruptcy courts. If your loved one gets sued, the creditor cannot get the inherited assets inside the trust. Your loved one can be the trustee of the trust and have control over the inherited assets in the trust.

4. To name the person you want to raise your minor children if both their parents are deceased.  If you don’t have a document that names the person who you want to raise your minor children if you die, then if both parents are deceased, the family will have to file a superior court lawsuit asking a judge to appoint a guardian to raise the minor(s).  This can be very expensive, cause family fighting and a person you may not want to raise your minor children could be appointed by the judge.

5. To name the person you want to manage the assets inherited by your minor children if you die when any of your children are under age 18 or the assets of adult children.  If you die with any children who are under the age of 18, the minor(s) cannot legally own or manage their inherited assets.  The family must file a superior court lawsuit asking a judge to appoint a conservator who is obligated to manage the assets for the minor(s) until the minor(s) become age 18.  This is a waste of money and the person the judge picks may not be the person you would have picked.  If we prepare your trust, it will name the person or people you pick to manage the assets of your children and use the assets for each child.  If you don’t want a child to ever have access to the child’s inheritance, you can have a trusted person or a corporate trustee be that child’s trustee.

6. To avoid an expensive, time-consuming public Superior Court probate.  If you do not have a trust and you die the assets that remain in your name may have to go through an expensive, time-consuming public Superior Court probate that gives your personal representative the power to pay your last bills and transfer your assets to your heirs.  We typically charge $3,500 – $5,000 to do a probate. When your assets are in a trust and you die all those assets avoid probate and go automatically to the heir(s) named in the trust agreement.

7. To maintain privacy.  Superior Court probates are public.  Trusts are not public.   They are private. If you die with a trust, only your successor trustee(s) have knowledge and access to your assets and your beneficiaries will know they are beneficiaries.

8. To control the use of your assets after your death.  Your trust can place limits on beneficiaries’ use of their trust assets.  If you own your home and you want your spouse or children to be able to live in the home after your death without paying rent you need a trust that provides for that.  Your trust could say your spouse can live in the home rent free for life and when he or she dies or moves out the home will go equally to your children.

9.  To give your heirs incentives and disincentives that influence their actions from the grave.  Our estate plan clients can pick and chose from a list of incentive and disincentive provisions to include in their heir’s trusts that are intended to influence their actions after your death.  See our list of incentive and disincentive optional trust provisions.

10. To prevent a loved one from having control of his or her inheritance. You do not want your loved one to have control of his or her inherited assets if:

11. To designate in a healthcare power of attorney the person or people who can make medical decisions for you if you cannot communicate with your doctor. If you are unconscious and your doctor asks, “Should I operate or not operate?” and one family member says yes and another family member says no, what will the doctor do?  Your family may have to go to court to get a judge to rule on who can make medical decisions for you. You should have a medical power of attorney that names the people you want to make medical decisions for you if you cannot communicate with your doctor.

12. To tell the doctors in your living will to pull the plug if you are brain dead. If you are being kept alive by a machine and brain dead what would happen if one family member says pull the plug and another says do not pull the plug? Terri Schiavo was in an irreversible persistent vegetative state. Her husband wanted to pull the plug, but her parents did not. They litigated the issue from 1998 to 2005 and wasted thousands of dollars before a court ruled that Schiavo’s feeding tube should be removed.

13. To give a trusted person the power in a financial power of attorney to deal with your financial affairs if you cannot. If you are unconscious in a hospital or have dementia or Alzheimers nobody will be able to deal with your financial affairs without going to court and wasting thousands of dollars to get an order from a judge that appoints somebody to be your conservator with the power to deal with your financial matters.  The court-appointed conservator may not be the person you would want to deal with your financial affairs. If you have a financial power of attorney, it names people you trust in order who can pay your bills, write checks on your checking account, and deal with your financial matters if you cannot.

If you hire us to prepare your custom estate plan with a revocable living trust all of the problems listed above go away and you and your loved ones will be protected.

[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]