Wealth Preservation Planning Attorney in Phoenix, AZ

A financial advisor plays a big role, but only an attorney can draft the trusts, form the LLCs, and record the deeds that make protection legal. Advisors manage investments and insurance. They can't write a spendthrift trust or an Operating Agreement. Online forms create documents in isolation, so you can end up with an LLC that owns nothing or a trust your accounts never name. Those gaps only show up during a lawsuit or after a death. The strongest plans come from your attorney, CPA, and advisor working from the same map, which is how Francisca builds each one.

Wealth preservation planning is the legal side of protecting what you own. It decides who holds title to each asset, which assets Arizona law already shields, and how wealth passes to heirs without being lost to creditors, divorce, or probate. Financial planning is the investment side. It decides how your money is invested, how much you can spend, and what insurance you carry. Both matter, and they work best together. Francisca handles the trusts, LLCs, deeds, and succession terms, then coordinates with your financial advisor and CPA so the legal structure supports their work instead of fighting it.

No. Arizona repealed its estate tax in 2006 and has no inheritance tax or state gift tax. The federal estate tax still applies, but only to estates above $15 million per person in 2026, or $30 million for a married couple who use portability. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act set that amount and removed the scheduled drop, with inflation increases after 2026. That means most Phoenix families don't need tax-driven trusts. Their bigger risks are lawsuits, a child's divorce, and a business with no succession plan. Families near or above the federal exemption should still plan with their CPA, since the top federal rate is 40%.

A dynasty trust is an irrevocable trust built to hold wealth for several generations instead of paying it out to your children outright. Arizona lets a trust last up to 500 years, so the same trust can serve your children, grandchildren, and their children. Each beneficiary can receive income and support from the trust while creditors and ex-spouses can't reach the principal. Families often fund one with real estate, business interests, or life insurance. A dynasty trust is a permanent decision, so Francisca explains the tradeoffs and how it fits with your revocable living trust before you commit.

A spendthrift trust stops a beneficiary from pledging or selling their share and stops their creditors from seizing it before the trustee pays it out. Arizona enforces these terms under A.R.S. 14-10502. The main exceptions are a child's court-ordered support claims and certain claims by the state or federal government. A spendthrift trust also helps in divorce. Arizona treats an inheritance as the child's separate property, but that status can blur once the money is mixed with marital funds. Keeping the inheritance in a trust makes it far easier to prove it never became community property.

An irrevocable life insurance trust, or ILIT, owns a life insurance policy so the payout stays outside your taxable estate and follows your rules for your heirs. With a $15 million federal exemption, fewer families need one for estate tax alone. Many still use an ILIT to control how a large payout is spent, protect it from a child's creditors, or fund a buy-out of a business partner. Arizona adds a useful rule. Under A.R.S. 25-213, money a spouse puts into an ILIT that insures them counts as that spouse's separate property when the other spouse is the primary beneficiary.

Yes. Arizona exempts money in qualified retirement plans, 403(b) plans, traditional and Roth IRAs, and 457 deferred compensation plans from creditors' claims under A.R.S. 33-1126. The statute also covers retirement accounts a beneficiary inherits, which matters because federal bankruptcy law treats inherited IRAs differently. Because these accounts are already protected, a good plan often leaves them where they are and focuses on assets that are exposed. The beneficiary forms still matter, since naming an adult child outright can expose the money once it's withdrawn. A beneficiary designation review lines those forms up with your trusts.

Arizona treats most property earned during marriage as owned equally by both spouses, while property owned before marriage or received by gift or inheritance stays separate. That shapes your plan in two ways. Federal law gives community property a full step-up in tax basis when the first spouse dies, which can lower capital gains for the survivor, so how a couple titles assets has a real tax effect. Separate property can lose its status once it's mixed with community funds. Couples who want firm lines between the two can pair their plan with a separate property agreement.

Review your plan every three to five years, and sooner after any major change. Common triggers include buying or selling a rental or business, a large jump in net worth, a child's marriage or divorce, a move between states, and a change in federal tax law. A structure that fit three rentals may not fit fifteen, and a trustee you named years ago may no longer be the right choice. Francisca offers estate plan reviews for plans she drafted and for plans written by other attorneys, including plans from other states, so your documents keep pace with your wealth.