Arizona law allows you to sign a “holographic” will (or a holographic codicil). That means you can handwrite your own will and sign it. Such a will or codicil does not need the two witnesses usually required. So that means you can easily write — or change — your will yourself. Right? Please do not…
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Based on popular cultural references (and especially novels, television and movies), it might seem like will contests are commonplace. In fact, very few wills are contested. When a will contest is filed, it is seldom successful.The risk that someone might contest your will is very slight — but it does happen. The background story in…
Your will should accomplish at least three simple things. It should identify who will manage the estate (the “personal representative”, in Arizona). The will should identify individual items, dollar amounts or percentages that are to go to particular recipients. Finally, the will should include a “residuary clause” — a statement about who will receive the…
When you agree to act as personal representative of a decedent’s estate, do you take on any potential personal liability? Generally not, but you should make sure everyone knows that you are acting as a fiduciary. A recent Arizona case illustrates the risk if you do not. Estate’s property is sold When Gary Barnes (not…
Like a number of other states, Arizona permits a real estate owner to sign a deed that transfers property automatically at death. This type of deed, often referred to as a “beneficiary deed,” is revocable during life, but can help avoid the probate process on the death of the owner. So does that mean every…
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 21 To be valid, a will or trust must reflect the intentions of a competent signer. If the signer is deemed to have been subject to the undue influence of someone else, the document can be invalidated. Even documents carefully prepared by lawyers sometimes get successfully challenged. When the lawyer is a…
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 20 Let’s say you have a disagreement with your sister, who is trustee of a trust your parents created. Your sister lives in Montana, though she has a winter home in Arizona. Your parents lived in Arizona when they died. They signed their wills and trust in Arizona, and their lawyer was…
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 19 A divorced couple has a child with a disability, and one spouse is paying child support to the other. But what happens when the child turns 18? Does anyone still pay child support? If so, to whom? And what effect does any child support have on the (now adult) child’s eligibility…
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 18 When a trustee transfers assets to a new trust with the same beneficiaries (but different terms), it is often called decanting. “Decant” is an analogy: the trustee is, in a sense, pouring trust assets from an old vessel into a new container, and improving the quality of the trust in the…
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 17 Even with regular prompting, about half of people never get around to completing even basic estate planning. If they never do get a will signed, we lawyers say that they have died “intestate”. But what does that really mean for their loved ones? Note that the information we provide here is…