Scottsdale Trust Attorneys For Complex Estate Plans
You spent decades building rental property, land you bought early and a business with partners in it. The question now is who receives it, on what terms and whether your family handles the transfer well. Attorneys at Nearhood Law Offices, PLC have guided Scottsdale property owners and families through that decision since our firm’s founding in 1986.
A trust is a more precise instrument than a will. It holds title to what you own, names someone to manage it, and controls when and how each person inherits without a probate court, without a public record of your estate and with terms that can shelter a beneficiary’s inheritance from their creditors. Arizona is a practical place to do this, with no state estate tax and trusts that can run as long as 500 years.
Types Of Trusts Available In Arizona
No single trust does everything. Some avoid probate while leaving you in full control. Others trade control for creditor protection or tax treatment you cannot get otherwise. Most plans we build use more than one of the following types of trusts:
- Revocable living trusts: You stay in control, you can change the terms anytime and your assets skip probate.
- Irrevocable trusts: The terms are fixed, and the assets leave your taxable estate permanently.
- Asset protection trusts: Arizona does not have a domestic asset protection trust statute that allows you to protect your own assets from creditors in a self-settled trust. However, you can shield assets you leave to other beneficiaries, such as children or grandchildren, using third-party irrevocable trusts with spendthrift protection.
- Special needs trusts: Funds support a disabled beneficiary without disqualifying them from Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.
- Charitable remainder trusts: You take income for a term, and a charity receives the remainder.
- Generation-skipping trusts (GST): Assets pass to grandchildren without a second round of estate tax at your children’s level, subject to the separate GST tax.
- Qualified personal residence trusts: You keep living in your home while its value moves out of your estate.
- Dynasty trusts: One trust holds and distributes wealth across many generations of your family.
Which ones will be the best fit for your plan will depend on what you own and how much control you are willing to give up.
How To Fund A Trust After You Sign It
A trust only controls what you actually put into it. Funding is that step: You record new deeds for real property, retitle bank and investment accounts and assign business interests to the trust. Clients often hear this and picture handing over property they use every day. A revocable trust does not work that way: You stay on as trustee, so you still sign the leases, refinance the property and decide when to sell.
Choosing A Trustee To Manage Your Arizona Trust
Your trustee owes beneficiaries real duties under Arizona law. Family members know your beneficiaries but may not be equipped to manage commercial property. A bank brings that experience for an annual fee. Either way, it’s important to name successor trustees and to name more than one.
Get Clear Answers About Which Trust Fits Your Assets
As trust lawyers, we will review what you own and tell you which structures are worth the cost. You will leave that conversation knowing whether a trust fits your situation and what setting one up would involve. To arrange a time to meet, call Nearhood Law Offices, PLC, at 888-428-2609 or tell us about your estate planning goals online.