CUSTOMIZED ESTATE PLANNING SERVICES

Law can be complicated and confusing. Families are often complex and dynamic. But estate planning has always been a constant.

It’s actually one of the oldest and most traditional legal exercises, dating back thousands of years across cultures and civilizations. When done correctly, estate planning is a deeply contemplative process that requires a person to confront their own mortality, analyze their life, and design their unique legacy.

The job of an effective estate planning attorney isn’t just to transcribe these wishes. It’s to work closely with the client to counsel them through the process and carefully design a plan that memorializes their individual convictions, hopes, and concerns into legally enforceable instruments.

That’s where we come in.

Our experienced team of Phoenix, AZ estate planning attorneys are skilled in navigating the complicated state and federal tax laws and understanding the many family and personal issues related to this practice area. We assist our clients around the country in protecting, managing, and transferring their wealth. Our attorneys frequently speak at conferences and write extensively on a wide array of estate planning topics.

Tell us your priorities.

We’ll lead the way.

Probate avoidance

Most kinds of assets are required to go through a probate process upon your death. This requires a court to verify the validity of your will, if you have one, or to follow laws governing who should get your belongings. But careful estate planning can avoid probate altogether, and we can help.

Family harmony

Coping with the loss of a loved one can be a devastating time, and having unclear or insufficient guidance about their wishes can complicate matters further. Our estate plans prioritize leaving families clear and understandable guidance about your wishes, to provide clarity in difficult times to those that need it most.

Asset protection

We ensure the wealth you’ve accrued passes on to the causes you care about. Whether it involves setting up LLCs for your assets, creating sophisticated structures that minimize your tax obligations, or integrating charity into your tax strategy, we’re well-versed in the tools at your disposal.

Religious compliance

Religion can be a cornerstone of the priorities your plan commemorates. Our team is experienced in integrating your religion into your estate plan – whether that pertains to end-of-life decisions, healthcare, funeral proceedings, or heirs. Learn about our Islamic compliance services.

Incapacity planning

A comprehensive plan should account for what will happen to your wealth and assets in the event you’re incapacitated. We can assist you in the selection of agents that can help, and building a trust that accounts for every possibility, so you’re always prepared for the unexpected.

Estate planning process diagram describing discovery, design, review, execution, and funding.

All our personalized plans begin with a consultation with an experienced attorney, at no obligation to you. In this meeting, we’ll learn about you, your family, your assets, and what you’d like to accomplish. If you’re unsure of your goals, then we’ll gladly help you clarify them. And if you’re looking for a sophisticated, advanced plan, we’re happy to extend our services in this stage for as long as it takes to arrive at the solution that’s right for you.

We’ll devise and explain a plan that will provide the legal protection you’re looking for, and introduce you to the legacy-planning tools and strategies that your family can use to accomplish your priorities. We’ll provide you with a specific fee quote to draft and implement your plan – and when you’re ready to move forward, we’ll ask for a deposit so that our team can get to work for you.

Once you’ve decided you’d like to move forward, we’ll schedule a second meeting – either in-office or via videoconferencing – where we can go over the mechanics of your new estate plan. At this point, you might have questions you didn’t think to ask at the initial consultation; we’re glad to go over everything with you until you understand every facet of the plan we’re building for you.

Of course, at any point during this stage, you’re welcome to modify the direction of your plan, and we’ll be glad to discuss integrating any new ideas or priorities into your plan. Once we’re on the same page about what your plan should look like, our experienced team of estate planning specialists will get to work.

Before we schedule your execution meeting, we want to make sure the plan looks exactly how you’d like it to. We’ll schedule you for another attorney call, to review your plan and ensure you’re completely satisfied with every element that it entails. We’ll go over every draft with you and ensure that you understand how they work. If, for whatever reason, you determine that something about the plan could better reflect your preferences and situation, we’ll gladly make the changes for you.

We’ll also send you copies of your documents at this time, for your review. You’re welcome to take some time to review them with your loved ones, and ensure that everyone named in your estate plan understands their role in carrying out your wishes.

Whenever you’re ready to move forward, just let us know – our team of office support staff will be happy to schedule you for a signing. If you’re in the Greater Phoenix area, we’d be happy to host you in our office, and provide notary and witness services. At this meeting, we’ll ensure your attorney is present so that they can answer any remaining questions you have. We’ll make sure that these documents properly reflect your preferences before it’s time to sign and finalize them. Once that’s done, we’ll provide you with both paper and electronic copies, for your convenience.

If you’re one of our clients from outside the area, or out-of-state, that’s not a problem – we’ll provide comprehensive signing instructions and send you a binder containing your documents by mail, so that they can be executed and notarized wherever you are.

Our work isn’t done once you sign your documents – our team understands the importance of ongoing communication and support, even months or years after execution. We’ll provide you comprehensive instructions on how to ensure your assets and belongings are accounted for in your estate plan, and if you have any questions, we’ll gladly answer them.

We understand your financial situation will change over time, and if you ever need assistance transferring assets into an entity that’s in your name, our team can help you prepare and execute documentation that achieves this. We’ll always be just a phone call or an email away from getting you connected with your problem-solving legal team.

VIEW OUR CORE ESTATE PLANNING PACKAGES

Our comprehensive estate and tax planning strategies often include the following components:

Revocable living trusts

A Revocable Living Trust is the cornerstone of most of the estate plans we craft. It’s designed to avoid a costly probate, the risk of court interference, and family discord with regards to your wishes. Trusts are effective for incapacity planning, and they direct the disposition of your assets to your chosen beneficiaries upon death.

Certification of trust

Sometimes you’ll want to conduct business on your trust’s behalf without disclosing this long, personal document’s entire contents. We’ll prepare a trust certification that you can take to any financial institution seeking proof of your trust’s existence. This will provide you with a quicker and more private trust funding process.

Last will and testament

A properly funded revocable living trust shouldn’t require a will – however, this kind of will serves as a second line of defense to ensure your properties are passed on successfully. The “pour-over” function ensures that any assets in your name upon death pass on to the trust, and are governed by its rules. They can also name guardians for underage children.

If a revocable living trust isn’t for you, we can still help – a customized last will and testament can provide some useful guidance to direct your successors about your wishes regarding your assets. This is effective upon death and subject to the probate process; learn more about Arizona probates here.

Power of attorney

A power of attorney allows your spouse (or another trusted person) to sign documents and handle financial matters on your behalf. This is particularly helpful if mental disability prevents you from managing your own affairs. This is one important facet of our plans, as it serves a critical role in incapacity planning.

Healthcare directive

Advance health care directives give directions to physicians and family regarding continuation of life support , organ donations, and other medical treatment wishes. For Arizona clients, we prepare a comprehensive three-in-one document, encompassing physical health, mental wellness, and a living will.

Charitable trusts

The Yaser Ali Law team is well-versed in creating charitable trusts – such as charitable lead annuity trusts, charitable lead remainder trusts, and unitrusts. We can integrate charitable giving into your tax planning strategies to optimize your tax burden while giving back to the causes you care about most.

Dynasty trusts

Building up generational wealth can be difficult with estate and transfer taxes. A dynasty trust minimizes your tax burden by creating a multi-generational trust with distributions planned out to beneficiaries of each generation. As long as assets remain in the trust, they wouldn’t incur gift, estate, or generation-skipping transfer taxes.

Intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs)

Intentionally defective grantor trusts, or IDGTs, are a form of advanced tax planning that higher net-worth clients may use to their advantage. Assets are placed into a trust with beneficiaries listed, but the trust is intentionally written to have the grantor still liable for income tax purposes. The grantor pays gift tax on this transfer, and income taxes on the increase of the value of trust assets. However, as the trust value grows, it is frozen for estate tax calculation purposes; this can singificantly minimize your tax burden.

Spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs)

A SLAT, or spousal lifetime access trust, is a kind of irrevocable trust (meaning it can’t be revoked, or undone). This is often used as a gift to transfer wealth outside of an estate; when the federal gift and estate tax exclusion is used, the gift to the trust is not taxable. This allows the donor spouse (the creator of the trust) to create a lifetime gift that evades gift and estate taxation, while reducing the size of their estate.

Beneficiary defective trusts (BDTs)

Using a beneficiary defective trust (BDT), also known as a beneficiary defective inheritor’s trust (BDIT) is another powerful tax planning tool you can use. Essentially, we’d create a trust that holds your assets while allowing you to control and utilize them – and this trust would be “intentionally defective,” creating a freeze of the asset’s value at the date of contribution. When you’d like to plan a significant gift and ensure your hard-earned wealth goes to your heirs while optimizing your tax burden, a BDT can be an effective strategy.

Family limited partnerships (FLPs)

A family limited partnership, or an FLP, is a project in which members of a family pool money to run and operate a business project. You can gift FLP interests tax-free every year, which means that making family members limited partners can benefit them by providing a regular source of income.

Intra-family gifts, sales, and notes

Depending on your assets, goals, and interests, gifting assets and other property to family members can be done in a number of ways. Beyond some of the strategies discussed on this page, you may make a gift through its incorporation into a revocable living trust, or through a loan in exchange for a promissory note. Gifting can create taxable events, and these strategies will all have nuanced tax benefits and consequences. Call us today to learn how we can help you make a gift to a family member.

Family foundations

A family foundation is a type of nonprofit corporation set up by members of one family. If you’re interested in generating tax-deductible donations while encouraging your family to donate for generations to come, we can help you set up a 501(c)(3) or equivalent organization, prepare any necessary documentation you’ll need, and advocate for your interests to the IRS.