Plain-language reference to the named provisions and elections inside Arizona wills, trusts, powers of attorney, beneficiary forms, and deeds. Educational only, not legal advice.
Clauses you find inside a last will and testament.
The catch-all that sweeps anything not specifically given.
A residuary clause directs everything left in the estate after specific gifts, debts, taxes, and expenses are paid. Without one, anything not specifically devised passes by intestate succession.
Discourages challenges by forfeiting a beneficiary's share if they sue.
A no-contest clause says a beneficiary who challenges the will or trust forfeits whatever the document left them. It only bites against people who would otherwise inherit, and Arizona enforces it only when the challenge lacks probable cause.
Resolves the order of death when spouses or co-beneficiaries die together or close in time.
A common disaster clause specifies what happens when the testator and a primary beneficiary die in the same event or within a stated window. It overrides the otherwise messy default rules for simultaneous or near-simultaneous deaths.
Provisions inside a revocable (living) trust.
Blocks creditors and prevents beneficiaries from assigning their interest.
A spendthrift clause prevents a beneficiary from transferring their interest in the trust and prevents most of the beneficiary's creditors from attaching that interest before distributions are made.
Sweeps stray assets from the will into the living trust at death.
A pour-over provision in the companion will directs that anything still titled in the decedent's name at death is poured into the revocable living trust and administered under its terms.
Limits trustee discretion to health, education, maintenance, and support.
A HEMS standard limits the trustee's discretion to distributions for the beneficiary's health, education, maintenance, and support. Federal tax law treats HEMS as an ascertainable standard that avoids inclusion of the trust in the trustee's own estate when the trustee is also a beneficiary.
Sets the order in which successor trustees take over.
A trustee succession provision names the order in which successor trustees take over when the current trustee dies, resigns, becomes incapacitated, or is removed.
Provisions inside irrevocable trusts of all kinds.
Provisions specific to irrevocable life insurance trusts.
Provisions inside special needs trusts.
Provisions inside domestic and offshore asset protection trusts.
Provisions inside a financial (durable) power of attorney.
Lets the agent under a financial power of attorney make gifts on behalf of the principal.
A gifting power expressly authorizes the agent under a financial power of attorney to make gifts of the principal's assets. Without this express grant, Arizona law presumes the agent has no power to give the principal's money away.
Delays an agent's authority until the principal is determined to be incapacitated.
A springing power clause makes a financial power of attorney effective only on the principal's incapacity, rather than immediately on signing. Capacity is typically determined by one or two physicians under a defined procedure.
Provisions inside a healthcare power of attorney.
Provisions inside a living will or advance directive.
Provisions inside life insurance, retirement, TOD, and POD designations.
Provisions inside beneficiary deeds, JTWROS deeds, and CPWROS deeds.
Every page describes what a clause does, why families include it, how Arizona law treats it, and where it tends to go wrong. The pages do not contain fill-in-the-blank templates and they are not a substitute for advice about your situation. Drafting is performed by partner attorneys we work with.