Trust & Estate Planning for Long-Term Wealth Preservation — Skabelund PLLC
Trust & Estate Planning
for Long-Term Wealth
Preservation.
Building wealth is one challenge. Keeping it — across generations, through lawsuits, market downturns, and tax events — is another entirely. At Skabelund PLLC, trust and estate planning is not a standalone service. It is the legal architecture that ensures everything you’ve built is preserved, protected, and transferred on your terms.
A Will Is a Starting Point. A Comprehensive Trust & Estate Plan Is What Actually Works.
Trust and estate planning is the legal architecture that determines how your wealth is managed, protected, and transferred — during your lifetime and after your death. A well-designed plan does three things simultaneously: it protects your assets from creditors while you’re alive, minimizes estate taxes so more passes to your heirs, and ensures your wealth transfers exactly as you intend — without probate, without disputes, and without leaving your family to navigate it alone.
Most people begin with a will. But a will alone cannot protect assets from creditors, cannot avoid the time and cost of probate, and takes effect only at death — leaving your assets unmanaged and unprotected if you become incapacitated. A comprehensive trust and estate plan addresses all of these gaps with a coordinated set of legal structures tailored to your specific wealth profile, family situation, and long-term goals.
At Skabelund PLLC, trust and estate planning is never treated as a standalone service. Every estate plan we design is fully integrated with our asset protection framework — because the structures that protect your wealth during your lifetime are the same structures that transfer it efficiently after your death. Attorney John Skabelund was named Attorney of the Year for Trusts & Estates by U.S. News & Best Lawyers in 2023 — recognition that reflects a decade of hands-on trust and estate litigation before founding this firm.
A Will Alone Is Not Enough
Wills go through probate — a public, costly, and time-consuming court process. They provide no creditor protection, no incapacity management, and no tax planning. A trust-based plan eliminates these vulnerabilities.
Probate Avoidance Matters
Assets held in a properly funded trust pass directly to beneficiaries without court involvement — saving months, legal fees, and keeping your estate private. Probate in Arizona can take 6–24+ months for complex estates.
Incapacity Planning Is Non-Negotiable
If you become incapacitated without a trust and proper powers of attorney, a court appoints a guardian or conservator to manage your affairs. A proper plan ensures the people you trust — not a court — make decisions for you.
Tax Planning Requires Legal Structures
Estate tax minimization does not happen by accident. Irrevocable trusts, QPRTs, GRATs, charitable trusts, and strategic gifting all require legal structures built years in advance to be effective.
The Right Trust Structure Depends on What You’re Trying to Accomplish
Each trust type serves a distinct purpose. A comprehensive plan typically combines several structures — coordinated to accomplish creditor protection, tax minimization, and wealth transfer simultaneously.
Revocable Living Trust
The foundational estate planning tool. A revocable trust holds your assets during your lifetime, allows you to maintain full control, names successors for management if you become incapacitated, and passes assets to beneficiaries directly at death — avoiding probate entirely.
A revocable trust does not provide creditor protection — but it is the essential base on which the rest of your estate plan is built. Nearly every comprehensive Skabelund PLLC plan includes one.
Probate avoidance & incapacity planningIrrevocable Trust
Once established, an irrevocable trust generally cannot be modified — which is precisely what gives it power. Assets transferred into an irrevocable trust are typically outside your personal estate, protected from future creditors, and not subject to estate tax on the trust assets.
Irrevocable trusts are the cornerstone of both estate tax planning and creditor protection. At Skabelund PLLC, irrevocable structures serve both goals from the same legal architecture.
Creditor protection & estate tax reductionDomestic Asset Protection Trust (DAPT)
Arizona’s Qualified Spendthrift Trust Act allows a self-settled irrevocable trust where you can remain a discretionary beneficiary while the trust assets are protected from future creditors. This gives Arizona residents access to one of the most powerful asset protection structures available under any U.S. state law.
A DAPT also functions as an estate planning vehicle — assets inside the trust can be structured for tax-efficient transfer to heirs.
Self-settled creditor protection & wealth transferQualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT)
A QPRT transfers your primary residence or vacation home into an irrevocable trust while you retain the right to live there for a fixed term. After the term, the property passes to beneficiaries at a significantly reduced gift tax value — removing appreciated home equity from your taxable estate.
For Arizona homeowners with equity above the $425,000 homestead exemption, a QPRT simultaneously provides creditor protection and estate tax savings on the same asset.
Home equity protection & estate tax savingsGift Trust (Irrevocable Gift Trust)
A strategic gifting vehicle that transfers assets out of your estate using the annual gift tax exclusion ($18,000 per recipient in 2024) and lifetime exemption. Assets inside the trust grow and accumulate outside your estate, significantly reducing estate tax exposure over time.
Gift trusts can be structured as Dynasty Trusts — designed to pass wealth across multiple generations without triggering additional estate taxes at each generation.
Generational wealth transfer & estate tax reductionCharitable Remainder Trust (CRT)
A CRT allows you to transfer appreciated assets into a trust, take an immediate charitable tax deduction, receive an income stream for a term of years or your lifetime, and pass the remainder to a designated charity — all while removing the assets from your taxable estate.
CRTs are particularly effective for clients with highly appreciated real estate or stock positions who want to avoid capital gains tax on a sale while accomplishing charitable and estate planning goals simultaneously.
Charitable giving & capital gains planningIrrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT)
Life insurance proceeds are typically included in your taxable estate, which means they can be subject to estate tax. An ILIT holds the policy outside your estate — so the death benefit passes to beneficiaries income and estate tax-free, providing liquidity for estate taxes, business buyouts, or wealth transfer without adding to the taxable estate.
Estate liquidity & tax-free wealth transferSpendthrift Trust
A trust designed to protect beneficiaries — particularly those who may lack financial discipline or face creditor exposure of their own — from having trust assets reached by their creditors or squandered. Spendthrift provisions control distributions and prevent beneficiaries from assigning their interest.
Spendthrift trusts are an essential tool for parents who want to transfer wealth to children without exposing that inheritance to a child’s future creditors, divorce proceedings, or poor financial decisions.
Beneficiary protection & controlled distributionsSpecial Needs Trust
A Special Needs Trust (SNT) holds assets for a beneficiary with disabilities without disqualifying them from government benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid. Without an SNT, even a modest inheritance can eliminate a disabled beneficiary’s eligibility for critical benefits they depend on.
SNTs can be funded during your lifetime or through your estate, and can be structured as first-party, third-party, or pooled trusts depending on the source of funds and the beneficiary’s circumstances.
Disability planning & benefits preservationThe Plans That Work Best Accomplish Both Goals from the Same Structure.
Most law firms treat asset protection and estate planning as separate practice areas — which means most clients get two separate sets of structures that may or may not work together, designed by attorneys who may not understand how the other side functions.
Skabelund PLLC was built around the conviction that the most powerful and efficient legal plans accomplish both goals simultaneously from the same architecture. An irrevocable trust protects assets from creditors during your lifetime and removes those assets from your taxable estate at death. A DAPT shields you from future creditors while accumulating wealth that passes to heirs without estate tax. A QPRT protects home equity above the homestead cap and removes appreciated real estate from your taxable estate at the same time.
This integration is not accidental — it is the result of designing every structure with both outcomes in mind from the first consultation. Founding attorney John Skabelund holds both a J.D. from ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and an MBA from W.P. Carey School of Business, giving him the legal and financial fluency to design structures that work across both disciplines simultaneously.
“A great trust and estate plan doesn’t just transfer wealth at death. It protects wealth during life, minimizes what the government takes in between, and ensures what’s left goes exactly where you intended — on your terms, not a court’s.”
John Skabelund — Founder, Skabelund PLLC · Attorney of the Year, Trusts & Estates 2023
One Architecture, Two Outcomes
A properly designed irrevocable trust provides creditor protection during your lifetime and estate tax reduction at death — from the same document, without duplication.
Coordinated with Your CPA
Every trust structure at Skabelund PLLC is designed within your existing tax plan. We work alongside your CPA — never around them — to ensure every legal structure supports your tax strategy.
Annual Reviews Keep Plans Current
As your wealth grows, your family changes, and tax law evolves, your estate plan must keep up. Annual reviews are included with every Skabelund PLLC engagement — not an add-on.
Flat Fees — No Hourly Billing
Every engagement is priced at a flat fee agreed upfront. You know the exact cost before any work begins — and you can call or email with questions throughout the year at no extra charge.
The Best Time to Build a Trust & Estate Plan Is Before You Need It.
Trust and estate planning, like asset protection, is fundamentally a proactive discipline. The legal structures that protect and preserve wealth must be in place before creditor threats arise, before family disputes emerge, and before tax law changes close planning windows.
Once a legal threat exists, Arizona’s fraudulent transfer laws can unwind asset transfers. Once an estate tax exemption shrinks — as it is currently scheduled to do in 2026 when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions expire — the window for certain planning strategies closes. The clients who preserve the most wealth are the ones who plan while they still have full options available.
Probate Duration
Above the Exemption
Exemptions Are Set to Halve
Above This, You Need a Trust
The 2026 Estate Tax Cliff
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the estate tax exemption in 2017. When those provisions expire at the end of 2025, the exemption is scheduled to drop from approximately $13.6M per person to roughly $7M — meaning estates that are not currently subject to estate tax may be after January 1, 2026. Strategic planning before that date can lock in today’s higher exemption amounts. The time to act is now.
Which Trust Does What — A Quick-Reference Guide
A comprehensive estate plan typically combines several of these structures. The right combination depends on your assets, tax situation, family goals, and liability exposure.
| Trust Type | Avoids Probate | Creditor Protection | Reduces Estate Tax | Incapacity Planning | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revocable Living Trust | ✓ Yes | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✓ Yes | Probate & Incapacity |
| Irrevocable Trust | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | Core Protection + Tax |
| DAPT (Arizona) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Strong | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | Self-Settled Protection |
| QPRT | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes (home) | ✓ Yes | Varies | Home Equity + Tax |
| Gift Trust / Dynasty Trust | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | ✓ Strong | Varies | Multi-Gen Wealth Transfer |
| ILIT | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | No | Life Insurance Tax Planning |
| Spendthrift Trust | ✓ Yes | ✓ Beneficiary | ✓ Yes | Varies | Beneficiary Protection |
| Charitable Remainder Trust | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | No | Charitable + Capital Gains |
| Special Needs Trust | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | No | Disability & Benefits |
Results depend on individual circumstances, timing, and proper implementation. This table is for general informational purposes. Consult an attorney for advice specific to your situation.
We Don’t Just Draft Documents.
We Design Plans That Hold Up.
John Skabelund spent a decade in trust and estate litigation before founding this firm — watching how plans succeed when designed precisely, and how they fail when they’re templates. Every trust and estate plan at Skabelund PLLC is designed with one standard: it has to hold up in court, in the IRS’s hands, and in your family’s hands after you’re gone. Not just look complete on paper.
From First Consultation to Annual Review — The Skabelund Process
Trust and estate planning at Skabelund PLLC is a structured, collaborative process — not a form-filling exercise. Here is how it works from the first conversation through the ongoing annual maintenance that keeps your plan current.
Comprehensive Wealth Mapping
We start by understanding your complete financial picture — real estate, business interests, investment accounts, retirement assets, insurance, and family structure. Most clients discover during this step that they have more exposure — and more planning opportunity — than they realized.
Custom Plan Design
We design a trust and estate architecture specific to your situation — selecting the right combination of trust structures, beneficiary designations, and entity strategies. We coordinate directly with your CPA to ensure every legal structure fits within your existing tax plan.
Drafting & Legal Implementation
We draft all trust instruments, pour-over wills, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and supporting documents. We handle entity formations, deed transfers, beneficiary designations, and all filings required to properly fund every structure.
Secure Document Portal
Every document is organized in a 24/7 secure client portal — operating agreements, trust instruments, EINs, deed confirmations. Accessible whenever you, your successor trustee, or your CPA needs them.
Annual Review — Your Plan Grows With You
Life changes. Tax law changes. Your wealth grows. We meet with every client annually to review and update the plan. New assets, new family members, new tax law, new business interests — your plan needs to reflect reality. This is not an add-on. It is part of every engagement.
The Attorneys Behind Every Plan
Know exactly who you’re working with before you engage any firm. These are the attorneys who will design, implement, and maintain your trust and estate plan.
John Skabelund
Founder & Lead Attorney — Trusts & Estates · Asset ProtectionJohn Skabelund was named Attorney of the Year for Trusts & Estates 2023 by U.S. News & Best Lawyers — recognition that reflects not just his credentials but a specific depth of experience in this practice area that few attorneys in Arizona can match. Before founding Skabelund PLLC, he spent a decade as a trust and estate litigator at one of Arizona’s largest law firms, watching how trust and estate plans succeed — and fail — when they’re challenged in court. He built this firm to design the ones that succeed.
He holds a J.D. from ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and an MBA from W.P. Carey School of Business, allowing him to design structures with both legal precision and financial intelligence — critical for plans that are expected to function across decades and generations.
- Attorney of the Year — Trusts & Estates 2023, U.S. News & Best Lawyers
- Top 1% of U.S. Attorneys — America’s Most Honored Lawyers
- Best Lawyers in America
- Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent — Highest Possible Rating
- M&A Today Best Law Practice Business of the Year 2026
- J.D. — ASU Sandra Day O’Connor · MBA — W.P. Carey School of Business
- 10+ Years as Trust & Estate Litigator at Arizona’s Largest Law Firms
Logan Woodruff
Asset Protection & Estate Planning AttorneyLogan Woodruff brings a Series 65 Investment Adviser Representative license alongside his J.D. — a rare and valuable combination for an estate planning attorney. Most trust and estate attorneys understand the legal structures but have limited fluency in the financial instruments inside those structures. Logan understands both, which means he can design and explain a plan that accounts for how your specific investment and financial positions interact with the legal structures holding them.
Licensed in four states and a Wealth Counsel member, he brings broad jurisdictional depth and a client-first approach to every estate planning engagement he leads.
- Series 65 License — Investment Adviser Representative
- 10 Years in Asset Protection & Estate Planning
- Licensed in Arizona, Texas, Utah & Oklahoma
- Wealth Counsel Member
- J.D. — ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Guides & Tools to Help You Understand Your Options
Every guide below is written or reviewed by attorney John Skabelund. Read before you plan — an informed client makes better decisions and designs better plans.
We Work Alongside Your CPA.
Never Around Them.
The most effective trust and estate plans are the ones designed in full coordination with your CPA’s tax strategy. At Skabelund PLLC, we treat your CPA as a partner — every legal structure we design is reviewed for tax implications, every trust instrument is drafted with your tax situation in mind, and we actively coordinate with your CPA throughout implementation and at annual reviews.
Many of our strongest client relationships begin with a CPA referral. If you’re a CPA or tax advisor looking for a trust and estate planning partner who genuinely collaborates rather than competes for client relationships, learn more about our CPA partnership program.
Trust & Estate Planning — Frequently Asked Questions
Your Legacy Deserves More Than
a Template Trust. Let’s Build It Right.
Two Arizona offices. All 50 states served virtually. Named Attorney of the Year — Trusts & Estates 2023. Flat fees. Annual reviews. The plan that holds up when it needs to starts with one conversation.
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