Probate & Estate Planning

RSS Link

At Berk Law Group, we know many families begin looking online for answers during stressful and uncertain times. They may be trying to understand who inherits when there is no will, whether a vulnerable adult may be experiencing financial exploitation, or whether guardianship or conservatorship may be necessary. While articles and videos can be helpful, they do not always make it easy to work through how the law may apply to a particular situation.
Indeed, many clients come to us without knowing which questions to ask or what information is most important to provide.
These tools are intended to help…
Continue Reading Berk Law Group Launches Free Arizona Probate & Elder Law Tools

Summary: A new federal reporting requirement for non‑financed transfers to irrevocable trusts.Effective March 1, 2026, the new FinCEN Residential Real Estate Reporting Rule requires a federal filing whenever residential real estate is transferred without financing to a trust or other legal entity.  This reporting requirement applies to irrevocable trusts and other non‑grantor entities, but it does not apply to standard revocable living trusts.  A designated ‘reporting person’ involved in the closing—typically the title company or closing attorney—must submit a Real Estate Report to FinCEN identifying the property, the parties, and the trust’s beneficial owners.  This nationwide rule replaces prior limited reporting

…
Continue Reading New FinCEN Residential Real Estate Reporting Rule

Summary:  Increase in federal estate tax exemption affects testamentary powers of appointment.If your estate plan includes an inheritance protection trust for a child or other non‑spouse beneficiary, that trust likely gives the beneficiary a testamentary power of appointment.  This power allows the beneficiary, at their death, to decide who should receive any remaining trust assets.  When estate tax exposure was a common concern, this power had to be drafted as a limited power—meaning the beneficiary could redirect assets only among a defined group of people and never to themselves or their creditors.  A limited power of appointment keeps the trust

…
Continue Reading Increase in Federal Estate Tax Exemption Affects Testamentary Powers of Appointment

Maybe you are new to Estate Planning and would like a collection of brief articles to provide clarity and confidence as you build your estate plan?Well, this 35 page booklet is for you.  We share this with prospective clients as a professionally spiral-bound booklet, but you can get it all right here as a downloadable PDF.  No email address or credit card required.
A Practical Guide to Estate PlanningA collection of brief articles to provide clarity and confidence as you build your estate plan.

Continue Reading New to Estate Planning?

A spendthrift trust allows you to establish a separate subtrust for each beneficiary and attach conditions that reflect their individual situations, limitations, and capacities.

In structuring a revocable living trust, how the trust’s assets will be distributed to your named beneficiaries, after your death, typically follows one of two options:

  • The trust is liquidated, with its assets distributed outright to the beneficiaries (often in cases of small inheritances or low creditor risk, or when administrative simplicity is a priority).

  • The trust becomes irrevocable upon your death and continues to hold all or some assets, which are managed by a successor

…
Continue Reading Spendthrift Trusts: Protecting Your Beneficiaries from Themselves, Others

Arizona probate litigation can get intense fast—missing inventories, stonewalled accountings, ignored turnover orders, withheld trust records, or parties “doing self-help” with estate or trust assets. When a judge is frustrated, it’s natural to see courts reach for contempt and monetary sanctions.
But Isom v. Isom (Division One, filed March 2, 2026) is a useful reminder: how a court labels (and structures) a monetary contempt sanction matters—because a sanction that is really criminal contempt triggers criminal-procedure protections, including hard limits on fines without a jury trial or waiver.
Even though Isom is a memorandum decision (not precedential), it’s still a practical…
Continue Reading When a “Contempt Fine” Becomes a Problem: Isom v. Isom and What Probate Litigators Should Take From It

Some trusts try to solve family conflict with a built-in off-ramp: appoint a “Special Co-Trustee,” require everyone to submit disputes to that person first, and allow mediation or even binding arbitration—with language saying the outcome is “binding” and “not subject to review.”
That system may work for many trustee/beneficiary disputes. But this opinion makes something clear: it doesn’t control when the real question is whether the amendment is valid at all because of undue influence.
What happened
Carol and James May created a living trust in 2003. In 2009, they added an ADR provision authorizing a “Special Co-Trustee” to resolve…
Continue Reading Arizona Appeals Court: You Can’t “ADR Away” an Undue Influence Challenge to a Trust Amendment

If you weren’t available – even temporarily – to run your business, would it operate profitably in your absence?

Our November 2025 article, “

Multiple Owners? A Buy-Sell Agreement Is a Must

,” discussed how business co-owners can protect themselves and their company if one of them experiences a life-changing event (e.g., death or disability).

But what if it’s just you? What would happen to your company if, for a significant time, you weren’t there to run it? In this article we will take a look at some planning steps that can promote business continuity in your absence.

Importance.

Let’s

…
Continue Reading Incapacity Planning for Business Owners: 14 Steps

The mission of the Maricopa County Bar Association is to be the place “Where the Legal Community Connects.” Ideally, that means connecting people with information—and connecting people with people.
After all, the legal profession is built on relationships.  We learn from one another, refer cases to one another, challenge one another’s thinking, and—at our best—hold one another accountable to shared professional standards.
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) has long been one of the places where those relationships are formed and reinforced.  As CLE has increasingly moved online, access and convenience have improved. At the same time, we have lost that sense…
Continue Reading Camera Optional, Attention Required: Rethinking How Lawyers Learn Together

What if the thing that makes you a better lawyer, a happier employee, and a more trusted firm has four legs and a wagging tail?
Let’s be real—legal work can be a lot. Between tight deadlines, emotionally heavy cases, and huge workloads, things can get pretty intense. But here’s the thing: science backs up what dog people have known all along.  Allowing dogs in the workplace isn’t just heartwarming. It’s research-backed, good for mental health, and surprisingly good for business.

  Sammy - Director of First Impressions
  Sammy – Director of First Impressions

Around the Berk Law Group office, you’ll see this play out in the…
Continue Reading The Case for Dogs in the Office: Why a Pet-Friendly Workplace Just Makes Sense

The Arizona Court of Appeals recently issued an important opinion addressing when attorneys’ fees may—and may not—be awarded in trust litigation. The case, Krishnan v. Krishnan, offers valuable clarification for trustees, beneficiaries, and the attorneys who advise them, particularly on the interpretation of A.R.S. § 14‑1105(A).

The holding is straightforward but significant: Only a decedent’s estate or trust may recover fees under § 14‑1105(A). Individual beneficiaries cannot.
Below is a breakdown of the case and why it matters for Arizona probate practitioners.
Background: A Family Trust Dispute Spanning More Than a Decade
Aiylam and Saranya Krishnan created a family living

…
Continue Reading Arizona Court of Appeals Clarifies: Trust Beneficiaries Cannot Recover Attorneys’ Fees Under A.R.S. § 14‑1105(A)

Lisa Reilly Payton is featured in the “Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona” section. Click here to read the article. This is the fourth consecutive year that she’s been recognized. Kelsi T. Lane is featured in the “Top 50 Emerging Leaders section” Click here to read the article regarding the Emerging Leaders. A link to the […]
The post Two Frazer Ryan Attorneys Recognized as 2026 “Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona” and “Top 50 Emerging Leaders” by Az Business magazine appeared first on Frazer Ryan Goldberg & Arnold, LLP.
Continue Reading Two Frazer Ryan Attorneys Recognized as 2026 “Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona” and “Top 50 Emerging Leaders” by Az Business magazine

Because the values of a married couple’s estate and the amount of the estate tax exemption change over time, estate planners commonly use formulas in a will or trust to avoid inadvertently triggering an estate tax on the first spouse’s death.  These formulas divide a deceased person’s assets between a marital share which qualifies for the unlimited marital deduction and a non-marital share which uses the deceased spouse’s estate tax exclusion amount to pass the decedent’s assets estate tax free.
There are three types of formulas: a Pecuniary Marital, a Fractional Share and a Pecuniary Credit.    Each formula has its…
Continue Reading Formula Clauses – The Fundamentals

You have the power (maybe).
Financial powers of attorney allow you (the principal) to appoint someone you trust (the agent) to perform certain acts related to your financial affairs on your behalf.  These instruments have a variety of uses, but are often used in the estate planning industry in in conjunction with, or in lieu of, a trust or conservatorship to facilitate the administration of your financial affairs if you become incapacitated.
There are several types of financial powers of attorney (POA), primarily categorized by their terms.  It is very important to review the terms of the instrument and not…
Continue Reading Financial Powers of Attorney