Scottsdale Estate Plan Attorneys' Estate Plan Contents
by Arizona estate planning attorneys Richard Keyt (Rick, the father) and Richard C. Keyt (Ricky, the son)
Benefits of a Trust & Estate Plan
See our article called “15 Benefits of Having an Estate Plan with a Revocable Living Trust.”
We are Scottsdale estate planning attorneys with over 50 years of combined estate planning experience who have prepared 650+ estate plans. We want to have a free meeting with you to answer your questions and design a comprehensive estate plan that protects your most valuable assets – your loved ones.
Sixty-seven percent of Americans do not have an estate plan. Don't be one of them. If you don't have a will or a trust, the intestate succession law of your state of residence, not you, will determine who inherits your assets when you die. For Arizona residents:
- To learn who Arizona will give your assets to if you are an Arizona resident and die without a will or a trust, read our article called Who Inherits Your Property If You Die without a Will or a Trust or
- Take our short online quiz called Who Inherits Your Property to learn who Arizona will give your assets to if you die without a will or a trust.
Book a Free Meeting to Get Answers to Your Questions & Design Your Estate Plan that Gives You Peace of Mind and Protects Your Loved Ones
The first step to protect your loved ones and ensure your assets go to your desired heir(s) is to book a free office, phone, or Zoom video consultation with one of the Keyts. During this no-obligation meeting, they will answer your questions and design your estate plan.
- Book a free office, phone, or Zoom video estate plan meeting with Richard Keyt (Rick, the father) or Richard C. Keyt (Ricky, the son) using their online calendar.
Call Rick at 480-664-7478 or Ricky at 480-664-7472. See Rick's virtual business card.
Our 261 Google Reviews
34 Documents & Services in Our Estate Plan
We doubt you will find an estate planning attorney whose estate plan includes as many documents and services as we provide. Look at other estate planning lawyers' websites, and they usually don't tell you what you get if you hire them or the fees they charge. We don't hide the ball. Our estate plan fees are shown at the end of the list of documents and services.
The toggles below describe the 34 documents and services you will get if you hire us to prepare your estate plan. To open a toggle click on a down arrow or the text to the right of a down arrow. Click the up arrow to close an open text box.
The first step for us to learn about you, your family and your concerns so we can design a custom trust and estate plan is for you to complete and submit our online “Life & Legacy Planning Session Questionnaire.” Answer as many questions as you can, but skip any questions you do not want to answer or aren't sure how to answer. We will go over your questionnaire with you when we have your Life & Legacy Planning session.
If you want to save you info and return later to finish the questionnaire click on the Save & Continue Later button at the end of the questionnaire.
When you finish your data entry click on the Submit This Questionnaire button. Our system will then send an email message to you and to us that has all of the information you entered.
If you hire us to draft your custom estate plan with a revocable living trust we will send you an email message that contains a link to our online Asset Inventory. Use this inventory to make a list of your bank accounts, investment accounts, stocks, LLCs, partnerships, real estate, vehicles and other valuable assets. We recommend you complete the Asset Inventory because our system will create a downloadable Excel spreadsheet that lists all of the assets you enter in the inventory. You will be able to download your asset list and update it from time to time as you acquire new assets and dispose of existing assets.
This Excel asset spreadsheet is:
- Your checklist of assets to transfer to your trust if you do the transfers yourself.
- Our checklist of your assets to transfer to your trust if you hire us to do the transfers.
- A document you can give to important people in your life so they know what you own and where to find the assets because if the right person or people do not know everything you own and where to find it, those assets will not go to your loved ones of you die (and your spouse if you are married) or become mentally incapacitated.
You must have an inventory of your assets because if you don't, your loved ones are not going to be able to find any or all of your assets when you are gone or mentally incapacitated.
Sample Asset List Our Clients Can Generate
The revocable living trust is the most important document in your estate plan. The reasons people create a revocable living trust are:
- You, not your state of residence, designate who inherits your assets in the trust on your death or the second spouse's death if you are married.
- Our trust provides that when you and your spouse die if you are married, a special needs trust will be be automatically created for your heirs who are special needs, people at the time of your death or later in the beneficiary's life. This prevents your special needs heir from losing government benefits.
- You can disinherit one or more people.
- You can name a trusted person as the trustee who manages assets inherited by minor children or people who should not be in charge of money.
- You can name a spouse or a trusted person as a trustee who can manage your trust assets if you lose your mental capacity.
- To avoid probate. The trust automatically causes your assets to pass on your death or the death of you and your spouse if you are married to your heirs named in the trust without an expensive, time-consuming public superior court probate. Our typical fee for a simple uncontested Arizona probate is $3,500, which takes five months.
- Your estate is private. Assets that go through probate and their recipients are public in a Superior Court probate.
- Low maintenance. Because your trust is a revocable trust, it does not file a federal or state tax return. All income and deductions of the trust are reported on your tax returns. Trusts do not have any expenses, such as state fees or taxes. They only require updates occasionally to reflect changes in your life.
You have an option to have us add language to your trust agreement that will create an irrevocable asset-protected trust for each of your heirs on your death or the death of you and your spouse if you are married. These irrevocable trusts do not provide that inherited assets will be paid out immediately or when the heir reaches a certain age because assets paid to an heir will not be asset-protected. Instead, the trustee (who can be the beneficiary) has the discretion to pay assets from the trust to the beneficiary as needed.
A man called me and said his mother died and left him $275,000 that was deposited into his bank account. He had a judgment and the creditor had garnished the man's bank account. All the money immediately was paid to the creditor and the man got none of it. If the mother had created an irrevocable asset-protected trust for the man, the creditor would not have gotten any of the inherited money.
These irrevocable trusts protect the inherited assets from your heirs' creditors, ex-spouses, and bankruptcy courts. If your heir gets sued, divorced, or files for personal bankruptcy, the assets in the irrevocable trust cannot be reached because your heir does not own the assets; the heir's trust owns the assets.
The irrevocable trust can use its assets for the benefit of the heir. For example, if the family home is in the irrevocable trust, the heir can live in the house rent-free, and the trust pays the real estate taxes, utilities, maintenance, and repairs. The heir could cause the trust to sell the home and buy a new home in the name of the trust.
To learn more about these trusts read my beneficiary-controlled asset-protected trust article.
The trust we create for you provides that if you have an heir who is a special needs person or who becomes a special needs person after your death, then the trust for that person will be a third-party special needs trust (SNT). The SNT preserves the heir's eligibility for government benefits such as Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. Because your heir does not own the trust's assets, its value is not considered the heir's assets, so the heir does not lose any government benefit programs with an asset limit. The trustee can supplement the heir’s government benefits but not replace them. Examples of supplemental needs are costs for caregivers and companions and medical and dental expenses not covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
Optional language you can include in your trust. If you want a pet trust we will put pet trust language in your trust. We email you a Word file that has optional incentive and disincentive provisions you can include in your trust agreement. You can edit our incentive and disincentive provisions and add your own text. See our list of incentive/disincentive provisions.
We give you a Certification of trust. This document summarizes your trust, verifies its existence, and provides key details about the trust, like the trustee's identity and authority to act on behalf of the trust, without revealing confidential information such as specific asset details or beneficiary names. When managing trust assets, it's often used to prove the trust's legitimacy to third parties like banks or title companies.
Trust ID card that shows the terminology used to title assets into the trust. Show the card to third parties like a banker or follow its guide when you update your life insurance beneficiary designations or pay on death forms with financial institutions.
We give you our successor trustee manual that explains the duties and obligations of the successor trustee or trustees who will be in charge of your trust assets if you die or become incapacitated or if both spouses die or become incapacitated if you are married. A trustee has legal obligations and fiduciary duties owed to the beneficiary of a trust. We recommend you give this book to the person who will become the successor trustee of your trust because your successor trustee must know the trustee's duties and legal obligations.
Funding Your Trust A to Z is our 22-page article that explains how to transfer different types of assets to your trust. After you sign your trust your short term goal will be transferring your assets to the trust. Assets that you do not transfer to the trust may have to go through a time-consuming, expensive and public Superior Court probate after your death. We will prepare a deed that transfers your home to your trust, but your job will be to transfer your other assets to the trust.
This article explains how to transfer the following types of assets to the trust:
- cash accounts
- investment accounts
- corporate stock
- stock options
- bonds
- personal effects
- retirement plans & pensions
- insurance
- annuities
- money owed to you
- real property
- assets you own with others
- timeshares
We will prepare a Deed that we record that transfers your Arizona home to your trust.
We will give you a form created by the Arizona Department of Transportation called “Beneficiary Designation for Vehicle Car Title Transfer on Death.” This form can be used by a person who is the sole owner of an Arizona-titled vehicle to transfer the title of the vehicle on the owner's death to the person or people named in the form.
We will prepare a Last Will & Testament that states that if any of your assets remain in your name after your death and if a Superior Court probate must distribute those assets, all of the assets will go into your trust. We call this a “pour over” Will because it pours all your probate assets into the trust. The Will is a “safety valve” type of document that hopefully will never be used because none of your assets will be in your name after your death.
We will prepare a long-term permanent Guardian of Minor Children document if you have any children under the age of 18, aka a minor. This is the document that tells the court who you want to raise your minor children if both of their parents are deceased or incapacitated. If the person you name as the guardian does not live close to you, you can also name a short-term guardian who lives close to you who can care for your minor(s) until the primary guardian can travel to your home and get the kids.
If your long-term permanent guardian(s) who you name to care for your minor children do not live close to you then you can name a short-term guardian who lives close to your home who will care for your minor children until your long-term guardian(s) can travel to you home to take care of the children. This can prevent your kids from being put in the care of Child Protective Services until the long-term guardian arrives at your home.
If there are one or more people you never want to be a guardian of your minor children, we will prepare a document called “People Who Can't be a Guardian of Minor Children. This document tells the Superior Court that you never want a person named in the document to be the legal guardian of any of your children under the age of 18, aka a minor.
We will prepare a Conservator of Minor Children document if you have any children under the age of 18. This is the document that tells the court who you want to manage your minor(s) children's assets if both of their parents are deceased or incapacitated. Arizona law says that minor children cannot manage their assets. With this document, the person you name as a minor's conservator can get a court order that names that person as the minor's conservator who has the legal power to manage the minor's assets until the minor is 18.
If you have any minor children, we will prepare a Healthcare Power of Attorney for each of them in which you name one or more people who can make medical decisions for your minor children if you and their other parent cannot be reached. If you are on a cruise or camping in Alaska and can't be reached and your minor child is in the hospital and the doctor wants to know whether to operate or not, this document gives a trusted person the legal power to make medical decisions for the minor child.
Healthcare & mental healthcare power of attorney that names the person you authorize to make medical decisions for you if you are in a coma or unable to communicate. You can also name a second-in-line or third-in-line person in case an earlier-named person cannot do it.
We prepare a HIPAA authorization that you sign. This document authorizes your healthcare agents to get your medical information from your doctors and hospitals. The HIPAA Privacy Rule (effective since April 14, 2003) introduced standards covering allowable uses and disclosures of health information, including to whom information can be disclosed and under what circumstances protected health information can be shared.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule permits the sharing of health information by healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, business associates of HIPAA-covered entities, and other entities covered by HIPAA Rules under certain circumstances. HIPAA authorization is consent obtained from a patient that permits a covered entity or business associate to use or disclose personal healthcare information (“PHI”) to an individual for a purpose that would otherwise not be permitted by the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Without HIPAA authorization, such a use or disclosure of PHI would violate HIPAA Rules could attract a severe financial penalty and may even be determined to be a criminal act.
We prepare a Living will that is instructions from you to doctors and hospitals to pull the plug if you are brain dead and being kept alive by machines. A living will is a legal document that outlines your preferences for medical treatment if you are unable to make decisions about emergency care yourself. In this document, you can specify which medical treatments or types of care you would like to receive, which ones you wish to avoid, and the conditions under which each choice applies. This differs from a traditional will, which provides legal instructions regarding a person’s estate, including the distribution of property and financial assets.
We prepare a Financial power of attorney that names the person or people you authorize to manage your financial affairs if you lack the mental capacity to manage your assets. A financial POA can be used for many tasks, including:
- Paying bills
- Managing bank accounts
- Handling investments
- Filing taxes
- Buying or selling real estate
- Cashing checks
- Corresponding with financial institutions.
We give you a Personal Property Memorandum that you use to make gifts of personal items such as jewelry and artwork to specific people so the personal items aren't retained in your trust after you die. You describe your personal property items on the form and indicate who gets each item if you die.
Asset inventory. We give you a pdf fillable file you can save on your computer. The purpose of this form is for you to make an inventory of your assets for your successor trustee(s). We recommend that you enter all the information about your assets into this file so you can tell your successor trustee(s) everything you own and where to find the assets if you were to die. If your successor trustee(s) don't know everything you own and where to find the assets, the trustees and beneficiaries won't get the unknown assets if you die. You should update this form from time to time so it always shows what you own and where to find it.
Optional Prehospital Medical Care Directive, also called a DNR – Do Not Resuscitate. You and your doctor sign the DNR that informs emergency medical technicians (EMTs) or hospital emergency personnel not to resuscitate you if you suffer a cardiac or respiratory arrest. If they have your DNR EMTs and other emergency personnel, they will not use equipment, drugs, or devices to restart your heart or breathing, but they will not withhold necessary medical interventions to provide comfort care or to alleviate pain.
Post Mortem Wishes is an optional document you can complete to tell your loved ones what you want to happen if you die. You can say you want to be cremated or not cremated, name songs and scriptures for your funeral, name your pallbearers and anything else you want your loved ones to know if you were to die.
Pet emergency card. If you have any pets we give you two pet emergency cards to carry in your wallet or purse. These cards inform healthcare people and EMTs that you have one or more pets that need care and tell the person to call your pet caregiver to inform the caregiver that you are in the hospital and can't care for your pet(s).
We buy a five year membership with DocuBank for you. We give your Healthcare Power of Attorney, Living Will, and HIPAA Authorization to DocuBank. It gives you an ID card to carry in your wallet or purse so if you are in a hospital it tells the doctors and hospital the name and phone number of your emergency contact and how to get DocuBank to fax these three documents to the doctor or hospital 24/7.
Your DocuBank Card:
Carrying your plastic wallet card means that hospitals have instant access to the information they need to provide the best care possible, and family members aren't scrambling to find it when they should be by your side.
Medical Alerts
- Your DocuBank card lists important medical conditions and allergies so that they are immediately available
- The name and phone numbers for your primary emergency contact also appear so they can be reached by healthcare professionals
- A complete list of your current medications, vaccinations and a highlight of your medical story can also be transmitted when your info is requested
- Your emergency contacts can receive an alert when your card is used so that they know where you are and be at your side
Medication List Access:
Upload a list of your personal medications that you already have, or use the online form, to add and revise medications on docubank.com as they change. Members who provide their medication information will have this indicated on their DocuBank cards so doctors know to go online to obtain this information.
Medical Snapshot:
Add critical medical information so that it is in one easy, organized spot for you and your family. Filling in your Medical Snapshot from the comfort of your home means you and those you love aren't scrambling to find or remember this information when it is needed at the hospital.
- Doctors and Specialists: List of any doctors so they can be consulted
- Medical History: Highlights of important medical info
- Vaccinations: Upload cards, fill in manufacturer and date info
- Surgeries and Hospitalizations: list important events, upload info
- Allergies: combines with the info on the card, list notes and reactions
- Family History: list of medical history
DocuBank SAFE:
DocuBank SAFE is a complementary part of every DocuBank membership. SAFE should be used for those documents you would like access to, but should not be transmitted when DocuBank is used by hospital staff. You can create your encrypted SAFE password and begin uploading documents immediately from your personal computer. All memberships include 2 GB of SAFE storage FREE.
Share Important Files
Create SAFEShare Users for friends and family so they can view the files you wish them to see.
Family Asset Protection book. We will give you a copy of this book about estate planning written by Richard Keyt and his son Richard C. Keyt.
We will give you a three-ring binder containing all of your estate plan documents organized behind tabs.
We give you a thumb drive that contains pdf files of every signed, witnessed & notarized document listed above. You can easily give important people copies of some or all of your signed estate plan documents.
We don't charge to make changes to your documents during the first 90 days after you sign them.
After you sign your documents we will send you many emails that explain post-signing issues such as funding your trust.
We will send you a reminder and a text message every six months after you sign your documents to remind you to review your estate plan and determine if you need to update any of your estate plan documents.
Stop Procrastinating: Protect Your Family Before It Is Too Late
Book a Free Estate Plan Consultation
If, like most people, you have procrastinated and do not have an estate plan that protects your loved ones, and you do not purchase our estate plan, the sad reality is that you will most likely continue to procrastinate for many years to come and probably will die without protecting your loved ones. That’s ok if you want the State of Arizona to decide who inherits your property and if you don’t care about the problems and expenses your family may suffer if you die without planning.
Isn’t your family your most valuable asset? Don’t you want your family to have the protection a good estate plan provides? If the cost is preventing you from making an appointment, compare the cost of an estate plan against the money you have spent on things for yourself, such as a flat-screen TV, furniture, swimming pool, computer system, hi-fi system, car or SUV, boat, country club membership, jewelry, art and other “toys” or expensive items. Don’t spend more on “stuff” than you would pay to protect your family if something happens to you.
Estate Plan Fee
Our fees for preparing the documents listed above and providing the other related services (no charge for phone calls, office meetings, emails or texts) are:
- $4,497 for a married couple
- $3,497 for a married couple who bought our Gold LLC within 120 days
- $3,497 for one person
- $2,497 for one person who bought our Gold LLC within 120 days
Optional Services & Fees
- $1,000 to add language to your trust agreement that will create an irrevocable asset-protected trust for each future beneficiary after your death or if you are married after the death of the second spouse. The irrevocable trust will protect each beneficiary's inheritance from creditors, ex-spouses and bankruptcy courts. If you don't buy this option, your trust will distribute each beneficiary's trust assets outright to the beneficiary without any asset protection at the age(s) you designate in your trust.
- $2,000 to hire our trust funding service to transfer your assets to your trust. This service includes transferring two LLCs and two Arizona real properties other than your home that we transfer as part of your estate plan.
How to Buy Our Estate Plan
Book a free office, phone or Zoom video consultation to answer your questions and plan and design your estate plan.
- Richard Keyt (the father) at 480-664-7478 or go to his online calendar. See his virtual business card.
- Richard C. Keyt (the son) at 480-664-7472 or go to his online calendar.
Book a Free Estate Plan Consultation
Warning for Arizona Residents
The State of Arizona has a law that specifies who inherits the assets of an Arizona resident who dies without a will or a trust. This law may cause your assets to be inherited by the wrong person or people if you don't have a will or a trust. To learn who will inherit your assets if you die without a will or a trust see my article called "Who Inherits Your Property If You Die without a Will or a Trust" and take my short online quiz called "Who Inherits Your Property." If the wrong person or people would inherit your assets, you need to hire us to prepare a will or a trust that leaves your assets to the person or people you want to inherit the assets, not to the people Arizona gives your property to.
Why You Need an Estate Plan with a Trust
See our article, "15 Benefits of Having an Estate Plan with a Revocable Living Trust.” Learn the 34 documents and services you will get if you hire us to prepare your estate plan with a revocable living trust.
Book a Free Consultation
The first step to protect your assets and ensure they go to your desired heir(s) is to book a free office, phone or Zoom video consultation with one of our estate planning attorneys. During this no-obligation meeting, they will answer your questions and design your estate plan. Make a free appointment with:
- Richard Keyt (Rick, the father) text or call 24/7 at 480-664-7478 or go to his online calendar. See Rick's virtual business card.
- Richard C. Keyt (Ricky, the son) text or call at 480-664-7472 or go to his online calendar.
Steps to Hire Us
1. Have your free consultation with one of Keyts.
2. Complete our online estate plan questionnaire. When you submit the questionnaire our system will send an email message to you and to us that contains all the information you entered into the questionnaire.
3. Attend your free estate plan consultation.
4. Come to our office to sign your documents before two witnesses and a notary.
The total time from start to signed documents is one to two weeks.