PHOENIX ESTATE PLANNING

Few activities are more important, yet more intimidating, than planning for your own long-term security and the continued well-being of your loved ones. The complexities of estate laws can lead many people to put off this crucial task until it’s too late, but with competent legal help you can lay a solid foundation for protecting your life and those you love.

Proper estate planning encompasses more than executing a simple will. It establishes who will receive your assets at the time of your death; minimizes or eliminates the cost of probate; minimizes or eliminates estate taxes; provides detailed instructions for your care in the event of disability; determines who cares for minor children at your death, and allows you to maintain control of your assets both during your life and death. Competent representation for such issues is a must.

As an experienced Phoenix Estate Planning Attorney, my focus includes:

• Estate Planning
• Wills
• Trusts
• Living Wills
• Durable Powers of Attorney
• Advance Healthcare Directives
• Asset Protection
• Special Needs Trusts
• Trust Administration

By maintaining a thorough knowledge of current laws and learning about you, I can design a personalized estate plan that maintains your control while achieving your hopes and vision for your family and loved ones. My services include wills, revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, life insurance trusts, limited liability companies, partnerships, and other structures and strategies. I also focus on the protection, optimization and preservation of your property from creditors and predators.

As a skilled Phoenix Estate Planning Attorney, I will develop a customized estate plan that is unique to your objectives and particular circumstances by listening to you to understand all I can about you and your family, and by teaching you relevant aspects of tax and trust law. My goal is to take the mystery out of estate planning by explaining in understandable terms your options and opportunities and then implementing your choices.

My Firm is results-oriented. We believe that clients deserve a plan that will actually accomplish the goals that they express to us, and we are committed to making sure that happens by maintaining involvement through the process even after the documents are signed.

If you or someone you know in Phoenix, Arizona, or surrounding cities and counties, needs the assistance of an experienced estate planning lawyer, call Attorney William Graves today at (602) 424-6161 to begin your consultation with a trusted Arizona estate planning attorney.

OUR SERVICES

In the field of estate planning, there is a wide range of tools that an experienced attorney can use to ensure that legacies are properly preserved and distributed, including:

A Will, sometimes called a Last Will and Testament, to transfer property you hold in your name to the person(s) and/or organization(s) you want to receive it. A Will also typically names someone you select to be your Personal Representative (Executor) to carry out your instructions and names a Guardian if you have minor children. A Will only becomes effective upon your death, and after it is admitted to probate.

Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care or Health Care Proxy appoints a person you designate to make decisions regarding your health care treatment in the event that you are unable to provide informed consent. 

Living Will or Directive to Physicians is an advance directive which gives doctors and hospitals your instructions regarding the nature and extent of the care you want should you suffer permanent incapacity, such as an irreversible coma. 

Durable Powers of Attorney for Property appoints a person you designate to act for you and handle financial matters should you be unable or perhaps unavailable to do so. 

A Living Trust can be used to hold legal title to and provide a mechanism to manage your property. You can select a person or persons – often even yourself – as the Trustee(s) to carry out the instructions in the Trust and name one or more Successor Trustees. Unlike a Will, a Trust usually becomes effective immediately, continues in force during your lifetime even in the event of your incapacity, and continues after your death. Most Trusts are revocable which allows the person who creates the Trust to make future changes, modifications and even to terminate it.  

Family Limited Partnership can be used to own and manage your property, in a similar manner to a Trust, but allowing additional tax planning techniques to be employed. Family Limited Partnerships are typically used for those who have large estates and thus have a need for specialized estate planning in order to minimize taxes as well as provide asset protection.