Estate Planning for Paradise Valley, Arizona

Paradise Valley households tend to have estate plans that were built for a different balance sheet than the one they have now. The house appreciated. A business was sold, or is about to be. A brokerage account that was a retirement plan is now an inheritance question. The trust signed in 2009 still names a bank as successor trustee and a child who was fourteen at the time.

We work with Paradise Valley families out of our Scottsdale office on East Bell Road.

What tends to matter here

The federal exemption can change whenever Congress changes it. Planning that assumed a high exemption amount needs to be looked at on its own schedule, not left until something forces the issue. Families who wait until the year of a change are working with fewer options and less time.

Concentrated real estate. A primary residence at Paradise Valley values, plus a second home in Sedona, Flagstaff or out of state, is a common shape. Each property in a different state raises the prospect of a separate probate unless it is titled correctly.

Business exits. The window before a sale closes is where most of the useful planning happens. Afterward, the options narrow considerably. If a transaction is on the horizon, that conversation should happen early.

Privacy. Probate is a public filing. For families who would rather their affairs not appear in a searchable court record, that alone is often the deciding factor.

Multi-generational planning

Several of our Paradise Valley clients are thinking past their own children. Trusts that hold for grandchildren, structures that keep a family property intact across generations, and the governance question that comes with them — who decides, and how, once the person who built it is gone. That is a different conversation from a basic estate plan and it takes longer.

We are close by

Paradise Valley clients are served from our Scottsdale office at 8817 East Bell Road, Suite 201. Matters filed for Paradise Valley residents go through Maricopa County Superior Court.

Frequently asked questions

Do you have an office in Paradise Valley? No. We work with Paradise Valley families from our Scottsdale office on East Bell Road.

Our estate is large enough that estate tax is a real question. Who do you work with on that? Matt Dana holds a CPA and an LL.M. in taxation, and the firm coordinates with clients' existing CPAs and financial advisors rather than working around them. Tax planning and the estate documents have to agree with each other, and they frequently do not when they are drafted by people who never spoke.

We are selling a business next year. When should we start? Before the letter of intent, if possible. Most of the planning that materially changes the outcome has to be in place before a transaction is committed. After closing, the useful options are fewer.

What happens if we do nothing? The estate passes under Arizona's intestacy statute or under whatever documents exist, through a public probate, on the court's schedule rather than yours. For a family with real estate in more than one state, that means more than one proceeding.