Living Trust in Gilbert
Should you have a living trust or a will? A living trust is one of the most common estate-planning tools we’ve been using at Phelps LaClair for the past 40 years. The reason being that in Arizona, if you own assets worth more than $75,000 (or $100,000 for real estate), the state’s probate court system can impose itself on you.
Unlike a will, living trusts are not supervised by a probate court, which means your loved ones can carry out your wishes without the frustration of court costs, mandatory waiting periods, public notices to creditors and frivolous contests from disgruntled heirs.
Elder Law
The purpose of elder law in Gilbert, AZ is to handle the wide array of legal matters of older or disabled populations. At Phelps LaClair, we focus on two areas of elder law: long-term care planning (LTC) and Medicaid planning.
If you’ve hit your 50s or 60s, you may have begun to consider what you will do in the instance that you or your spouse become ill or physically impaired. But did you know that in Phoenix, Arizona and surrounding areas, the annual cost of nursing home care during 2019 was $6,327 per month for a semi-private room and $9,338 per month for your own room? That’s $76,000 to $112,000 per year!
And what about Medicare? Won’t that help offset the cost of LTC? What many people fail to realize is that Medicare will not cover the cost of long-term care, whether at home or in an assisted living or nursing facility. Paying for long-term care is a personal responsibility that is wiping out the life savings and estates of millions of ill-prepared, middle-class retirees across the country.
