Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Arizona

Re: Trust

With the proper language, provisions, powers and instructions you can appoint a trustee to administer a lifetime trust for your daughter after your death.

Such an estate plan is one which is important enough, and filled with enough pitfalls in the wording that I seriously advise you not to do it yourself. We have clients who are attorneys who hire us to do this (they are not estate attorneys.)

For a free, no obligation consultation to discuss this and various alternatives you have call 480.835.1500.

Best regards,

James D. Jenkins

Re: Trust

I do not recommend that you attempt to establish or amend a living trust, without the advice and counsel of a skilled trust lawyer. I believe that what you are describing in your question are circumstances where your daughter is disabled and needs someone to hold, manage and distribute money on her behalf, this is commonly called a "special needs" trust and if you have enough money in trust to provide for her entire support, then the trustee will do just that, pay her bills, her taxes and for other needs, and the trustee would also manage the investment of the trust funds. If your daughter is receiving state aid or social security benefits, and you do not want her to be disqualified from receiving those benefits, then a special needs trust is set up to provide those things she needs that the government does not pay for. Your question infers that your son would not be able to perform the duties of trustee, and that you do not want him to make discretionary decisions when it comes to providing for your daughter's needs. Also, there is the issue of what happens to the trust estate upon the passing of your daughter, and also, upon the passing of your son whether or not he predeceases your daughter.

When you have a trust, the trustee is duty bound to carry out the terms of the trust agreement and the trustee only has authority over the assets and income of the trust. The trust is a separate legal person/entity, and thus, it is not involved with an executor, who is the person that administers a probate estate.

Please contact a skilled attorney.