Every person should have a will or a living trust. A person should also have an Arizona estate planning lawyer prepare a beneficiary deed, which is sort of a “mini-will” that automatically conveys real estate to an owner’s beneficiaries upon the owner’s death.
Why is this important? Because a will does not have to be probated with respect to property that can be conveyed through other means, such as a beneficiary deed. And why does a person want to avoid probate? Because probate can be a long, complicated and expensive process that a decedent’s heirs will have to endure in order to settle the decedent’s estate. A competent Arizona estate planning lawyer will help a client set up other legal mechanisms, such as a beneficiary deed, to automatically transfer as much property as possible in order to minimize what actually has to be transferred via a will to avoid unnecessary and expensive probate.
Regardless, every person should still have a will, even if most valuable assets can be transferred by other legal means. There will always be some remaining assets that must be transferred via a will. Without a will, your property could be transferred to people you did not intend in accordance with the Arizona “intestacy” laws (which designate certain relatives that inherit first and relatives that inherit last). However, when only a small amount of property has to be transferred via a will because the larger property was automatically transferred via other legal means (such as a beneficiary deed), probate will still be unnecessary because a simple “affidavit” can be used to transfer the remaining property. For more information on wills and living trusts, click here.