At Rock Law Firm, we call our approach Legacy Protection Planning because estate planning should be about more than preparing legal documents. It’s about protecting the people you love, preserving what you’ve worked hard to build, and making important decisions today so your family has clarity tomorrow.
From our Gilbert office, we help individuals and families throughout the Phoenix Metro and across Arizona create thoughtful, personalized plans for incapacity, inheritance, family protection, and the future.
Putting off Arizona estate planning is easy — until a hospital, a bank, or a probate court needs a document that doesn’t exist. Rock Law Firm, based in Gilbert, Arizona, helps residents across the Grand Canyon State put wills, trusts, and powers of attorney in place so their families are protected and their wishes are honored, no matter what happens.
Attorney Jacob Goodman built Rock Law Firm on a simple idea: planning for your family’s future shouldn’t feel intimidating or overwhelming. We call ourselves the “nice guy law firm” because we walk you through your options in plain English, with no pressure and no judgment. Our goal is to make sophisticated planning understandable and help you make informed decisions with confidence.
A properly built estate plan puts these decisions back in your hands, protects your family from unnecessary court involvement, and can save your loved ones significant time, stress, and expense after you’re gone.
No two families need exactly the same plan. Depending on your goals and circumstances, your Legacy Protection Plan may use a combination of the following tools:
Because Arizona is a community property state, how you and your spouse title assets significantly affects how they’re treated in your estate plan — another reason a generic, out-of-state template often falls short for Arizona families.
Probate is the court process that oversees the transfer of a deceased person’s assets. Arizona offers a few different paths, and which one applies depends on the size and complexity of the estate:
A properly designed and funded revocable living trust can allow assets held in the trust to pass according to its terms without probate, regardless of the value of those trust assets. For many Arizona families, a revocable living trust paired with a pour-over will can be an effective part of a broader Legacy Protection Plan—but whether a trust is appropriate depends on your family, assets, and goals.
Arizona has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax — a significant advantage for Arizona families compared to residents of many other states. However, the federal estate tax still applies to very large estates. For 2026, the federal exemption is approximately $15 million per individual, and portability allows married couples to shield roughly $30 million in combined assets. Only the value above this threshold is taxed, at rates up to 40%.
For the vast majority of Arizona families, federal estate tax isn’t a concern. But if your estate is approaching these thresholds, or you own property in a state that does impose its own estate or inheritance tax, proactive planning can meaningfully reduce your family’s future tax exposure
Every family is different. Rather than starting with a particular document, we begin by understanding your family, assets, concerns, and goals. From there, we recommend the appropriate level of planning.
Legacy Foundation
Foundational Will-based planning designed to put essential protections in place, including incapacity planning, beneficiary wishes, and planning for minor children where appropriate.
Legacy Protection
Comprehensive Trust-based planning designed for families seeking greater control, privacy, continuity during incapacity, probate avoidance for properly coordinated assets, and additional protection for the people they leave behind.
Legacy Preservation
Advanced planning for clients whose circumstances may call for additional asset protection, business planning, sophisticated estate or tax strategies, or additional trusts and entities.
Not sure where you fit?
You don’t need to be. That’s what our Legacy Planning Consultation is designed to determine.
For most Arizona adults, a Will is an important part of a complete estate plan. Without a valid Will, Arizona law generally determines how probate assets are distributed. A Will also allows you to nominate a personal representative and guardians for minor children and express important wishes about how your estate should be handled.
No. Arizona has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax applies, and it affects very few families — the federal exemption is roughly $15 million per individual for 2026, with portability allowing married couples to shield about $30 million combined.
Often, yes. Arizona recently raised its small estate affidavit thresholds to $200,000 in personal property and $300,000 in real property equity, letting many more families skip formal probate. A properly designed and funded revocable living trust can also allow assets held in the trust to pass according to its terms outside probate, regardless of the value of those trust assets.
A Will directs how probate assets should be distributed and allows you to nominate guardians for minor children and a personal representative, but a Will does not itself avoid probate. A revocable living trust can allow properly funded trust assets to pass according to the trust’s terms outside probate and can also provide continuity in managing trust assets during incapacity.
Arizona’s intestate succession laws under Title 14 determine who inherits your property, generally prioritizing a spouse and children. Because Arizona is a community property state, the outcome for married couples depends on how assets are titled. Without your own documents, you lose control over these decisions.
You don’t need to know whether you need a Will, a Trust, or something more sophisticated before reaching out. You just need to know what matters to you.
Start with a complimentary 15-minute Legacy Protection Discovery Call. We’ll learn what prompted you to begin planning, answer questions about our process, and help determine the right next step.
