Donaldson Stewart, P.C.Donaldson Stewart, P.C.2024-03-17T03:30:09Zhttps://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/feed/atom/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/sites/1403960/2019/11/cropped-fav-img-32x32.jpgOn Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=501982024-03-17T03:30:09Z2024-03-17T03:30:09ZAppropriate family circumstances
Usually, adoptions in Arizona require a home study to ensure that the environment is appropriate for the child before placement. That may not be necessary in a stepparent adoption. However, there are two other requirements imposed by Arizona state law. The first is that the marriage between the stepparent and the parent of the child must have already lasted for at least a year. The second is that the stepparent needs to have cohabitated with the stepchild for at least six months. Provided that the family situation meets those standards, a stepparent could file the necessary paperwork to legally adopt their stepchild.
Permission from all living parents who retain legal rights
A stepparent requires the approval of their spouse to legally adopt their stepchild. They also need the permission of the other living parents unless the state has already terminated that person's parental rights. Written authorization from the parents of the stepchild is crucial to the stepparent adoption process. In addition, the consent of the child may be required as well if the child is at least twelve years old.
Approval from a judge
The judge presiding over the case may look at many factors, including the opinion of the stepchild if they not yet old enough to be required to give consent. The process is not complete without a judge's signature finalizing the adoption. Typically, a stepparent needs to be able to prove in court that the adoption would be in the best interests of their stepchild.
Those who meet all three of these standards may be in a position to legally change their current family dynamics. Learning more about Arizona's family statutes and seeking legal support may benefit stepparents who are eager to solidify their relationship with a stepchild.]]>On Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=501942024-02-01T20:15:41Z2024-02-01T20:15:41ZWhen someone's condition improves
Not everyone who experiences a debilitating medical event becomes permanently incapacitated. Many people recover from short-term medical setbacks and even more extreme experiences, like a coma. If the person who signed the power of attorney documents regains their testamentary capacity due to medical improvement, they can revoke the power of attorney, which means the agent loses their legal authority over the person’s affairs. But if a power of attorney becomes effective as a result of an incapacitating condition or event, then a letter of capacity from a physician may be required to revoke the authority.
When someone becomes permanently incapacitated
In some cases, the power of attorney documents are only meant to be effective during a person’s temporary medical or mental incapacity. In other cases, the authority granted by a power of attorney can last until a person’s death if they never regains capacity. In addition, a power of attorney may become invalidated if a judge makes a finding of incapacity and finds the person to be in need of a court-appointed guardian or conservator. People often opt to create durable power of attorney documents that are intended to allow the agent to retain their authority even after someone has been deemed permanently incapacitated. Signing a durable general power of attorney offers protection against future guardianship or conservatorship proceedings. The durable power of attorney document can also serve as notification to the court that if a guardian or conservator must be appointed for legal reasons, the incapacitated person chooses for their agent to be appointed in those roles.
When someone dies
Power of attorney documents only have legal authority during the signer’s lifetime. After that person dies, their power of attorney documents are no longer valid and their testamentary documents, such as a Will or Trust take over. The agent must then give up their authority to whoever the deceased person designated as the personal representative of their estate and/or as trustee of their trust.
Sometimes, those drafting power of attorney documents choose to integrate special provisions that impose additional limitations on the authority assumed by their agent or attorney-in-fact. Understanding when powers of attorney lose their authority may help people create estate plans that best align with their personal wishes.
]]>On Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=501902024-01-23T05:29:36Z2024-01-23T05:29:36Zthere are fewer restrictions than there would be on a self-funded trust. These are a few of the most common ways that people effectively fund special needs trusts.
Real property and other assets
Funding a special needs trust can occur as soon as someone creates the trust. The grantor creating the trust may immediately transfer certain valuable property to the trust. Financial accounts and the residence where the family lives could both be useful sources of funding. Particularly if the goal is to allow the individual to remain at the home indefinitely in the future, transferring real property to the trust can help ensure a stable and predictable lifestyle for the individual with special needs.
Life insurance proceeds
Those seeking to support a vulnerable loved one may use life insurance when they do not have enough liquid capital on their own to provide consistent support. Naming the trust the beneficiary of a life insurance policy is a safer choice than arranging for those assets to pass directly to someone with special needs. That way, the trustee has the responsibility of managing those resources. There should be less risk of losing assets due to poor resource management or financial abuse when a trustee controls the proceeds from a life insurance policy.
A pour-over will
People often do not know when they might die or what assets they will have at that time. Particularly if someone does not want to give up control of their resources while they are still alive, a pour-over will can be a helpful way to fund a special needs trust. Pour-over wills allow assets passing through the Arizona probate courts to transfer into a trust after someone's death. A pour-over will can ensure that the remainder of someone's personal property helps fund a trust after their death. However, a pour-over will does have a drawback: a pour-over will may, under certain circumstances, trigger probate court involvement after death. If you are relying on a pour-over will to distribute your assets, first seek the advice of a knowledgeable estate planning attorney.
People do not need to have millions of dollars to supplement the standard of living for a loved one with special needs after their passing. Considering different funding options for an Arizona special needs trust can help improve a vulnerable person's support and standard of living.]]>On Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=501852023-12-19T05:55:35Z2023-12-19T05:55:35Zdecision-making authority. With joint decision-making authority, the parents share the responsibility and authority to make important decisions and key choices regarding their children's upbringing. This can include choices about the children's healthcare options, education, extracurricular activities, religious upbringing and more.
It's important to note that joint legal decision making doesn’t necessarily mean equal parenting time. In some cases, one parent may have the children live with them the majority of the time, while both parents share joint decision-making power and have to cooperate on big decisions.
Why this can be a challenge
Parents may already agree on certain issues – like keeping the children in the same school – but there are other areas where conflict can arise. Parents may differ over what medical care is safe and necessary, for instance, or whether their child should play sports vs. taking music lessons.
When both parents have an equal right to have a say in major decisions affecting their children's life, they must consult and cooperate with each other when making important choices. Divorced couples have to put their own differences aside and put the children first whenever possible. When parents disagree, the delay in making decisions may end up ultimately harming the children.
For this and so many other reasons, fostering healthy communication between co-parents is important. Parents are expected to communicate effectively and work together in the best interest of their children. Ultimately, both parents must respect each other's rights and roles in the decision-making process, even if they do not live together or share parenting time equally. Fostering healthy communication strategies can help former partners to craft a healthier co-parenting dynamic in this way.
Parents who have concerns about decision-making disputes that cannot be resolved amicably can seek legal guidance at any time. Even the most well-intentioned and cooperative parents can find themselves at an impasse and seeking guidance can help a family move past such logjams.
Mediation is also an excellent tool to help parents to get past what they believe may be an impasse in their decision-making process. Working with a neutral third party can help take some of the emotion out of the disagreement, allowing the parents to focus on the children, rather than how they feel about each other.
An experienced attorney can help you to navigate challenges you may be facing in your shared decision making.]]>On Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=501642023-10-25T05:23:46Z2023-10-25T05:23:46ZMediation is often part of the process of pursuing an uncontested divorce in Arizona.
Mediation gives divorcing spouses more control
A litigated divorce can be a very disempowering experience, as couples essentially hand control over all major divorce matters to a family law judge. A judge decides who keeps what property, who pays which debts and who spends time with the children during and after a divorce. Couples who work with a neutral third-party mediator, either prior to initiating the divorce action or after the process is well underway, take back control over the process. With the mediator's assistance, they work together to agree on all of the major issues their family faces.
Mediation is a private process
Divorce often occurs because couples have grown apart, but it may also be the result of some kind of perceived or actual marital misconduct that causes a breakdown in trust. Regardless of the reason for the divorce, couples may be reluctant to have their private affairs exposed in a public forum. They have the freedom to explore challenging topics in mediation with privacy because mediation is a confidential process. Only the agreement that spouses sign will end up included in court records. In addition, the confidentiality of the process means that if the couples do end up in litigation at some point in the future, neither of them can use their negotiations in mediation against each other. This encourages open, creative communication throughout the mediation process.
For couples aspiring to an uncontested divorce that does not require a judge's opinion on major matters, divorce mediation could be the best option available or it can serve as part of traditional process that utilizes a variety of settlement approaches. Ultimately, considering alternative ways of resolving marital disputes may benefit anyone concerned about the expense and exposure of private information often associated with protracted, litigated divorces.
Learn More About Mediation
While divorce can be a difficult life transition, Donaldson Stewart, P.C., strives to make the divorce process as streamlined as possible. To schedule your free consultation, please contact us online or call our Chandler, Arizona, law firm at 480-792-9770.]]>On Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=501592023-10-18T08:05:24Z2023-10-18T08:05:24Zcommunity property rules that apply in Arizona divorce mean for the division of marital debt?
Couples may need to share debts from during the marriage
When the Arizona courts review the marital estate, they won't just look at the income that the spouses earned and the property that they acquired during the marriage. The courts will also look at financial obligations. A credit card account does not necessarily need to be a joint account with both spouses listed as cosigners to be a marital debt. It will likely be the date that someone took on the debt that matters the most for the purpose of debt division, although the intention behind the acquisition of the debt could matter as well.
Debts taken on to diminish the marital estate or in the course of acts that damage the marriage may not end up included in the pool of marital assets and debts. Most debts, however, will be subject to division. judges can handle that division in a variety of different ways depending on the unique financial circumstances of the spouses. One spouse may end up responsible for more debt because they retain more marital assets or to offset other aspects of the overall settlement. The goal is to achieve an appropriate division of those assets in accordance with the community property statutes in Arizona, and the debts people share can play an important role in that process.
Spouses may decide that they want to negotiate their own property division terms during a divorce in part because they want to have more control over what happens with specific debts. Those who resolve their divorces out of court may be able to set their own terms for sharing debts and assets at the end of a marriage. Although these terms may not be binding on the creditors, they will be enforceable between the parties.
Learning about the challenges that couples face during an Arizona divorce may help those preparing to initiate the process better plan for the future.]]>On Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=501512023-08-22T01:00:43Z2023-08-19T02:46:59Zintegrating a trust into their estate plan is the smartest approach to ensue proper handling of their assets and wishes. Some people find the idea of a trust off-putting and may write off these powerful legal instruments as unnecessary. However, those who add trusts to their estate plan often do so for very specific – and, ultimately, beneficial – reasons.
Protecting inheritance
Imagine a person who wants to put together an estate plan after a divorce. They still have minor children that they share with their ex-spouse, and they do not want the other parent to have control over the children's inheritance. A trust could help them achieve that goal and preserve assets for when their children become adults. Trusts can also be useful in cases where a beneficiary is an adult and already married, and the testator worries that their spouse may try to lay claim to inherited assets if they ever decide to divorce. Those who want to protect someone's inheritance from misuse by others may find that a trust is a useful tool.
Protecting beneficiaries
In some cases, someone entitled to receive an inheritance might not be in the right situation to come into possession of a large amount of money at once. Some people have issues with addiction that might put them at risk if they had access to a large inheritance. There are others with debilitating medical conditions who couldn't manage such resources without support. Even those with a bad habit of mismanaging money might benefit from having a trustee administer their inheritance and preserve it for them. Those who worry that their loved ones would be overwhelmed by receiving everything at once or that they might misuse an inheritance may find that a trust is a good solution.
Protecting themselves
In some cases, trusts can be a useful tool for those who want to protect themselves later in life. Typically, a trust will include a provision that prioritizes the needs and care of the person who created the trust over the wishes of the eventual beneficiary. If a person who created a trust (also known as the Grantor, Trustor or Settlor) becomes incapacitated, the person serving as the Trustee is obligated to abide by the terms of the trust and ensure that the Grantor's needs are met for the remainder of his or her lifetime.
Learning more about the purpose and impact of a trust can help people decide whether creating and funding a trust is the right move for their needs and goals. An experienced estate planning attorney can answer your questions.]]>On Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=501472023-07-22T00:38:03Z2023-07-22T00:38:03Zsimplified process for adoption when the person taking responsibility for the children is already a member of their family. Grandparents require court approval to become the lawful parents of their grandchildren. Grandparent adoptions also require either the consent of the child's biological parents or the court-ordered termination of the parents' legal rights. These are some of the benefits that a family could potentially derive from a grandparent adoption.
Enhanced family stability
After years of living with a grandparent, the children in the family may not be happy about needing to move back in with a parent later. However, if the grandparent has only informally accepted a parental role, that might be exactly what happens. When a grandparent takes the step to legally adopt their grandchildren, they won't have to worry about a parent who abandoned the children or who was unable to fulfill their role for years suddenly coming back and disrupting the lives of the entire family with little regard for the impact on the children.
Access to key support systems
There are thousands of grandparents in Arizona playing a parental role, and there are programs that can help families adjust to this arrangement. To access key forms of state aid, grandparents will typically need to formally adopt their grandchildren, as the state may not acknowledge an informal arrangement where a grandparent provides care for the children in the household. From tax credits to counseling support services, there are numerous resources available after an adoption that may not be available with an informal care arrangement.
An improved sense of family
A child who has lost a parent to death, addiction, abandonment or incarceration may have an unstable sense of family and difficulty understanding where they belong in the world. Having their grandparents legally adopt them can be a source of comfort. Adoption makes their formal relationship with others clearer and may help them to understand that they have someone they can depend on in the future regardless of what the future holds for the family.
Pursuing a grandparent adoption can be a complicated process, but it is also often beneficial for everyone in the extended family when this effort is both warranted and successful.]]>On Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=498682023-06-22T18:24:03Z2023-06-22T18:24:03ZAny parents with legal rights to the child
To achieve a stepparent adoption, the child must be available for adoption. This can be achieved by consent of a legal parent or through a contested private severance action. To proceed by consent, both the parent to whom the stepparent is married and the parent who is allowing the stepparent to adopt must sign a consent form in front of a notary. Although a parent cannot initiate termination of their own rights, some parents will consent to the adoption of their child by the other parent’s new spouse because that decision terminates their child support obligation going forward.
A living legal parent who has not voluntarily rescinded their parental rights or had the state terminate those rights still has legal authority and rights as a parent. Even a parent who has not paid child support or been actively involved in the child’s life for years could potentially prevent a stepparent adoption.
If the non-custodial parent will not consent to terminating their parental rights, the custodial parent have grounds to ask the Juvenile Court to sever the other parent’s legal rights before they can apply for their spouse to adopt the child.
The Court
Once the child is available for adoption, judicial review is mandatory for the protection of the child involved. For many stepparent adoptions, the process can be largely clerical, although certain factors, including serious legal issues in the prospective adoptive parent's history, might lead to additional challenges during the stepparent adoption process. The social or placement study required in other adoptions can be waived in some cases because the child already lives in the household. Before an adoption is granted, a judge will need to find that all of the necessary paperwork is in place and that the adoption would be in the best interest of the child.
The Child
Aspiring adoptive stepparents will want to talk about the decision with the child before taking any legal steps, as they may need to have some family discussions to adjust to the idea. Depending on the child’s age, the child may also need to give consent for the adoption to occur.
Understanding who must review and approve a stepparent adoption may benefit those who are beginning the planning process concerning this potentially very valuable adjustment to their family status.]]>On Behalf of Donaldson Stewart, P.C.https://www.donaldsonandassociateslaw.com/?p=498592023-06-20T14:06:18Z2023-06-20T14:06:18ZProtecting your finances
Let’s say you have a mortgage. You have made monthly payments year after year and built up significant equity in your home. If you were to become incapacitated in a sudden auto accident, for example, your home could be in jeopardy if no one continues to make those monthly mortgage payments. Alternately, perhaps you own a business. If you became incapacitated, who will take over your responsibilities and run the company?
Establishing a financial power of attorney and designating a specific individual who will make such decisions will provide you and your family peace of mind.
Difficult health care decisions
A health care decision is an extremely personal matter. There is no one-size-fits all when it comes to deciding how to carry out an emergency situation. For instance, while one person may wish to be placed on life support in the event of a medical catastrophe, another may not.
By designating a specific individual to make medical decisions for you in the event you cannot, ensures that your wishes are carried out – not the wishes of your physician or family members.
Although incapacitation is not a universal experience for aging adults, it can potentially happen at any time to anyone. Discussing the issue with your family could be tough, as no one wants to think about such an event.
However, many of us would want our wishes carried out if there came a time we could not speak for ourselves – whether they involve our finances, our medical care or any other important aspect of our life.
For more information about powers of attorney and provisions that could benefit you and your specific situation, seek guidance from an experienced estate planning attorney.]]>