Chandler Estate Planning Lawyers

Helping Clients Find Optimal Solutions Throughout the Estate Planning Process

Everyone should have an estate plan. Estate plans enable us to make end-of-life decisions, name beneficiaries, and look after the care of family members both when we are alive and after we are gone. Despite the importance of estate planning legal documents, far too many Arizona residents go without establishing any sort of comprehensive estate plan. The reason for so many comes down to procrastination and fear of considering our own mortalities. It is understandable, after all, not to want to think about our deaths or how our loved ones will survive after our passing. And there can be a tendency for us to believe that we’ll get to it someday, that it’ll all find a way to work out, and that our future selves will get it together. But we are fast becoming our future selves, and we never know exactly how long we have. Ultimately, the time to consider your unique estate planning needs is now.

Far too many people believe that estate plans are reserved only for those with significant assets, considerable wealth, and large families. This is not so. Virtually everyone has an estate of some kind that deserves some level of consideration and proactive planning.

Metropolitan Law Group prides itself on providing personal attention and compassionate legal services to clients with unique estate planning circumstances. Our law firm has an in-depth knowledge of Arizona state law and all relevant estate planning laws for your cases. We can help you establish customized estate plans that look after your minor children, financial well-being, reduce estate taxes, and safeguard your other interests.

Our experienced attorneys have years of legal experience in Arizona estate law. We can help you and your family members draft wills, trusts, and other estate planning tools that are legally sound and will stand up to challenges in litigation. We understand that drafting wills, naming beneficiaries, and other considerations under estate law can be an emotional process that is often overwhelming. But it’s also a process you don’t need to go through alone. Contact our Chandler office to schedule a free estate planning consultation with our legal team today.

Why is an Estate Plan So Important for Arizona Residents?

If you do not have a last will and testament or any other sort of estate planning legal documents in place, your surviving family members will find themselves in difficult situations if you are ever left incapacitated or tragically passed away.

It is highly recommended to have a comprehensive estate plan in place to help your family through the probate proceedings and reduce the chances of probate litigation. If you die without a will (or without an updated will), the probate process could become more expensive, time-consuming, and emotionally exhausting for your surviving loved ones. There exists a chance that, without a thorough estate plan, your family members may spend their time disputing each other’s claims and fighting with one another instead of grieving the loss of life. It is important that you make your final wishes known. Unless you make these end-of-life decisions and put them in a legally valid estate plan document, the courts will decide the fate of your estate, ultimately ruling on who gets what.

Estate planning has several other benefits. With the right kind of estate planning tool, an experienced attorney can help minimize taxes, protect assets during asset distribution, and anticipate health care emergencies.

With a trust, for example, you can perform some level of estate tax planning to help minimize tax penalties that your beneficiaries would have to pay on your estate. This can also help your family avoid or limit the need for probate administration.

Anyone over age 18 is recommended to draft an advanced healthcare directive. This legal document outlines your wishes for health care if you are ever left incapacitated due to a mental condition, physical injury, or serious illness. Another estate planning document to consider is the power of attorney. This tool allows you to select a family member or other trusted individual to make important decisions, including financial and medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot do so yourself.

What Estate Planning Services Does Our Chandler, AZ, Law Firm Provide?

At our Arizona law firm, our attorneys can help you with several different types of legal issues related to estate and elder law.

Our legal services include the following:

• Advanced health care directives
• Asset protection trusts
• Beneficiary designations
• Business succession planning
• Charitable planning
• Charitable remainder and charitable lead trusts
• Credit shelter trust
• Domestic partnership agreements
• Dynasty trusts
• Estate administration
• Estate litigation and probate litigation
• Family limited partnerships
• Generation-skipping trusts
• Gifting programs
• Guardianships and conservatorships
• HIPAA authorizations
• Irrevocable life insurance trusts
• Irrevocable living trust
• LGBT estate planning
• Living wills
• Long-term care planning and elder law
• Minor’s trusts
• Powers of attorney
• Private family foundations
• Probate administration
• Qualified personal residence trusts
• Retirement trusts
• Revocable living trusts
• Special needs trusts
• Spendthrift trusts
• Structured college savings plans
• Updating estate plans
• Wills
• And more

To learn more about the various types of legal services we provide, please schedule a free case evaluation with our Chandler law offices today. In your free initial consultation, we will go over your legal options and help you determine the correct path forward in your estate plan.

Do You Need a Last Will and Testament?

Everyone should consider drafting a will, but this is especially true for anyone with minor children or significant assets.

If you died tomorrow, do you know that your dependents would be well cared for? How will your assets be distributed? Are you sure there won’t be any disputes during the probate process?

Ultimately, none of us knows how long we have left, and the end can come at any time. It can be uncomfortable to consider mortality and frightening to think about how life will treat our loved ones after we are gone. But if you do not take the time to draft a last will and testament today, these considerations will be out of your hands.

A will is perhaps the most essential part of any estate plan in Arizona. To learn more about the benefits of drafting wills, please get in touch with our law firm to schedule your free case review today.

What is Intestacy?

If you die without a will in Arizona, you are known as passing away intestate. Such circumstances trigger the state’s intestacy laws, which determine asset distribution upon your death.

Without a will, Arizona law will prioritize surviving spouses, children, and other close relatives during the asset distribution process. This may not play out according to your wishes, and certain beneficiaries may be passed over entirely.

By drafting a legally sound will, you ensure that your assets will be distributed according to your wishes and that your beneficiaries will get what you desire.

What is the Probate Process?

Probate is the court-supervised process wherein the decedent’s estate is distributed to beneficiaries, debts are paid off, and the estate is eventually closed. If a will exists, a probate court validates the last will, inventories the deceased individual’s remaining property, appraises that property, and distributes the estate to beneficiaries according to the language of the will.

Probate can be a lengthy and costly process. It is highly recommended to work with probate lawyers who have experience with Arizona probate court proceedings.

How long probate takes and how much it might cost will largely depend on the size and complexity of the estate, as well as the existence of a valid estate plan. Certain estate planning tools allow families to avoid probate altogether. Contact a probate lawyer at our firm to discuss your unique estate planning circumstances.

What is the Importance of Designating Guardianship?

If you pass away at a young age and leave behind minor children, do you know who will provide those children with care? By naming a guardian, you can help ensure that your children are cared for by whoever you wish.

Additionally, guardianships and conservatorships can be useful even when parents are still alive. If the parent of a minor child is not capable or unfit to provide proper care, interested loved ones might seek guardianship. A conservatorship may be a legal option for an adult who is unable to meet their daily needs safely.

What is a Trust and Can Our Arizona Attorneys Help You with Trust Administration?

Unlike a will, which only goes into effect after death, a trust can potentially benefit its creator and its beneficiaries while the trust creator is still alive.

Many Arizona residents opt for revocable living trusts that enable them to put assets into the trust and access those assets over the course of their lives before transferring those assets upon their eventual passing. To learn more about the benefits of establishing a revocable living trust, contact a trust attorney at our Chandler law offices.

There are several other types of trusts worthy of consideration as well. For example, a special needs trust allows you to support a disabled dependent without putting their government-provided benefits at risk.

A spendthrift trust, meanwhile, enforces limits on when and how often a beneficiary can use the funds that are left to them from the trust.

Contact the trust attorneys of the Metropolitan Law Group to determine what type of trust is most well-suited to your unique estate planning needs.

How Can You Avoid Probate?

When a person passes away, their estate goes through the probate process. During these proceedings, a will (if it exists) is validated, and its instructions are followed to the letter. Probate proceedings can be costly and time-consuming. Thankfully, there are means by which you can help your surviving family members avoid the probate process.

It is possible to limit or avoid probate by establishing different types of trusts. This can also be beneficial in providing a certain amount of privacy to the bereaved, as probate proceedings are otherwise a matter of public record.

By putting certain assets into a qualifying trust, the distribution of property can be simplified, and the probate process can be shortened. To learn more, please contact Metropolitan Law Group to schedule your free case review today.

What is a Power of Attorney?

There are different types of powers of attorney.

A general durable power of attorney is a legal document that allows its creator to designate another individual (the agent) to make financial decisions on their behalf should they ever become incapacitated due to illness, injury, or mental condition.

A healthcare power of attorney is an estate planning tool that allows the person creating the document to designate another individual to make important medical and life-saving decisions in the event of incapacity.

What Are Healthcare Directives and Living Wills?

Healthcare powers of attorney and living wills are different types of advanced healthcare directives.

Living wills are legal documents that establish the type of health care that an individual desires in the event that they are ever too sick to speak for themselves due to a terminal illness or a persistent vegetative state. Usually, a living will dictates the measures that can or should be taken to prolong life.

What Does Long-Term Care Planning Entail?

The vast majority of Americans over age 65 develop long-term care needs. Despite this, most Americans have no long-term care plans in place. Just as it is important to make plans for what should happen to your estate after you pass away, it is also important to plan for your twilight years and prepare for old age.

Long-term care refers to a wide range of personal care and health care services for people who can no longer care for themselves alone. These services may include assistance with activities like bathing, eating, cooking, dressing, medical care, therapy, and other facets of daily life.

Depending on your financial circumstances, long-term care could be provided at your primary residence, a nursing home, or an assisted living facility.

Contact our law firm today to discuss elder law and long-term care planning for your estate plan.

What is Estate Litigation?

In ideal circumstances, a will or trust ensures that your assets are properly distributed to your intended beneficiaries per your wishes. However, sometimes problems arise as beneficiaries (or those who believe they should have been named beneficiaries) dispute the estate plan and begin estate litigation.

Several reasons exist for estate and probate litigation, including contested wills, out-of-date documents, unequal asset division, accusations of coercion or undue influence, and improper trustee actions.

An estate planning lawyer can help you through the probate and estate litigation process. To learn more, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our law firm.

Can Our Estate Planning Law Firm Help You Revise Your Will?

You must keep your wills and other estate planning documents up to date. To stay up to date, it is recommended that you revise old documents following major life events (like new births, divorces, or deaths) or every three to five years.

A Chandler estate planning attorney from our law firm would be proud to help you revise your will and other estate planning measures in order to reflect changes in circumstances.

When Should You Create Your Estate Plan?

There is no such thing as establishing an estate plan too soon. If you are 18 or older and have any assets of any kind, you would be wise to consider drafting a legally valid estate plan.

There is, however, such a thing as waiting too long to worry about estate plans. The longer you put things off, the more situations may arise that could either cost you your life or leave you incapacitated, which would then leave your dependents and loved ones in difficult situations.

Contact Us for a Free Consultation with an Experienced Estate Planning Attorney Today

As your estate planning attorneys, our legal team can help develop asset protection strategies, minimize state taxes, and protect your interests and those of your loved ones both during your lifetime and after your passing.

To learn more about our legal services and the benefits of establishing a comprehensive estate plan, contact our legal staff for a free estate planning consultation at 480-405-1970.