Thinking of getting divorced? If you are, you’re not alone. In 2025, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the probability of a first marriage for a woman aged 15-44 ending in divorce within the first 10 years is approximately 36%. How will getting a divorce effect your estate plans though?
Can…
Charitable distributions — from your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) directly to your favorite charity — can save you income taxes. Of course, you can deduct charitable donations anyway, so you might wonder how this exotic (okay — not really that exotic) technique is even better for many taxpayers.
First: what is a “qualified charitable distribution?”…
It’s the last Sunday of March. This month Wendy Williams’s guardianship, Alzheimer’s disease treatments and estate planning for snowbirds were all in the news.
Guardianships and Conservatorships
Talk show and radio host Wendy Williams was diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia and appointed a financial guardian in 2022. Following the release of a documentary TV…
Say you’ve been administering an estate. Maybe you have been appointed personal representative in a probate proceeding. Or perhaps you’re the trustee wrapping up a trust after the death of the settlor. What do you have to do with estate documents?
You have to behave reasonably, first of all. But what does “reasonable” mean in…
We read an Arizona Court of Appeals decision last month that made us think we need to explain about an UTMA account. Again.
First, the court decision. In In re Custodial Account for the Benefit of E.L., on February 13, 2025, the Arizona Court of Appeals addressed a probate court decision about an UTMA…
It’s springtime and for many of us that means it’s time for spring cleaning! But what happens when your spring cleaning goes a little too far and you accidentally throw away your original estate planning documents? It’s always best practice to keep your original estate planning documents, but if you have a copy isn’t that…
We have written about the pitfalls of DIY (Do-It-Yourself) estate planning before. Several times. Nothing has changed in the law or practice to make our earlier advice less important — or easier to overlook. It’s just that we keep seeing DIY estate planning projects that turn out badly. It’s why we say: just…
We practice law in Arizona. We also live in Arizona. In fact, we have been doing both for almost a collective century.
Also, we love The Grand Canyon State — but that’s part of our image problem. The iconic notion of our state involves that stunning (well, “Grand”) Canyon and northern Arizona red rocks. But…
Happy New Year! Can you believe the first month of 2025 is already almost over? This month the Corporate Transparency Act, Social Security and the San Diego Padres were hot topics in elder law news.
Corporate Transparency Act Update
We have talked about the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and the beneficial ownership reporting requirement a…
You’re about to create a trust, and your lawyer asks you about a “trust protector.” Do you need one in your trust? It sounds like a good idea, right? Who wouldn’t want their trust “protected”?
Where does “trust protector” idea come from?
Trust protectors are actually a new(ish) invention. Of course, all things are relative.…
