Estate Planning Attorney in Tempe, Arizona
Estate planning for Tempe homeowners in Optimist Park, Maple-Ash, the Lakes, and Warner Ranch, plus the self-employed professionals built around ASU.
Tempe is the East Valley's odd one out. ASU pushes 70,000 students through Mill Avenue every semester, and downtown reads more urban than suburban. The established Tempe we work with is different. Families in Optimist Park, Maple-Ash, the Lakes, and Warner Ranch are planning the same way Gilbert and Chandler families are. What changes is who they work for. More of our Tempe clients are self-employed, run businesses tied to ASU's research and tech spinouts, or have a TIAA-based retirement instead of a 401(k).
Two things change as a result. The biggest asset is more often a business interest than home equity. And the retirement accounts aren't standard. TIAA, 403(b), Solo 401(k), occasionally a defined benefit plan for a higher-earning sole proprietor. The trust language and the beneficiary forms have to coordinate carefully, more so than for the typical W-2 employee.
The Tempe neighborhoods we see most
Maple-Ash and Optimist Park have older, smaller homes. Often single-owner, sometimes inherited, occasionally with title that got tangled in a divorce decades ago. Planning here usually starts with cleaning up what the deed actually says, then drafting around it.
The Lakes and Warner Ranch are more conventional. Two-earner households, kids in Kyrene or Tempe Union schools, primary residence as the main asset. The plans look like what we draft for Chandler or south Gilbert.
Marina Heights and the Tempe Town Lake high-rises are State Farm employees, ASU senior staff, and the firms clustered around Hayden Ferry. Condo and townhome ownership means HOA paperwork in the trust-funding step that catches a lot of attorneys by surprise.
ASU faculty and self-employed Tempe clients
ASU faculty and research-staff retirement accounts are usually TIAA-based, with some combination of 403(b) and 457(b). The beneficiary mechanics are slightly different from a 401(k), and naming a trust as beneficiary has to be done carefully to preserve stretch options for whoever you leave it to.
Self-employed Tempe clients are mostly consultants, agency owners, and ASU spinout founders. The biggest asset is often the LLC itself. Whether to put the membership interest into your trust depends on the operating agreement, whether you have partners, and what your liability exposure looks like. The default answer is wrong about half the time.
How we work with you
Most Tempe planning happens by video. Our Mesa office is fifteen minutes east on the 60 or 202 if you'd rather come in. After-hours signings work for clients who can't break away during the workday.
What we do for Tempe clients
Tempe estate planning FAQ
I'm an ASU faculty member with TIAA retirement accounts. Do they work the same as 401(k)s for estate planning?
Mostly the same in concept, with some mechanical differences. The beneficiary designation is what controls. The will and trust don't override it. We coordinate trust-as-beneficiary structuring with TIAA's specific forms when stretch planning matters for your beneficiaries.
I'm self-employed in Tempe and my LLC is my main asset. Should it go in the trust?
Often yes for the membership interest, but the operating agreement controls whether you can transfer it without partner consent. If you're a sole member, it's usually clean. If you have partners, we coordinate with the operating agreement first.
We just bought our first home in Warner Ranch and we have a baby on the way. What do we need first?
Powers of attorney and a healthcare directive can be done immediately. The trust and will should follow within the first six months. Not because the trust is urgent on its own, but because the guardianship clause in the will is the most important document a new parent has.
My parent passed and left a house in the Lakes that was already in their trust. What do we do?
That's trust administration, and it's what trusts are designed for. We can guide the successor trustee through the steps. Notifying beneficiaries, retitling, handling any tax filings. Usually without any court involvement.
I rent my Tempe property to ASU students. Does that affect my estate plan?
It affects your asset protection plan more than your estate plan. Rental property exposes you to tenant liability, and most landlords benefit from holding rentals in an LLC separate from their personal name and from the family trust. We structure that as part of the planning conversation when it applies.
See more on the centralized FAQ page.
Let's get this drafted.
Book a free 30-minute consultation. Whether it's a faculty appointment, a side LLC, or a Maple-Ash bungalow with complicated deed history, we'll tell you what you need and quote a flat fee.
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