Why People Come to Us About Trusts
Most people who call us about a trust are not estate planning hobbyists. They have a house, maybe a rental property, maybe a small business, and a nagging feeling that if something happened tomorrow their family would be left sorting through paperwork at the worst possible moment. Some have children from more than one marriage. Some have a family member who would struggle to manage a lump sum of money. Some simply do not want their private affairs read in a courtroom.
At Kanu & Associates, P.C.estate planning is one of our core practice areas alongside immigration, criminal defense, and business law. We help clients prepare practical estate planning documents designed around their family, their property, their health care decisions, and the legacy they want to leave. A trust is one of the tools available for that, and part of our job is helping you figure out whether it is the right tool for your situation.
We serve clients throughout Arizona and New Mexicoand our approach has not changed in more than two decades of practice: understand your goals first, explain the options in plain language, then put something in writing that actually works when it is needed.
What a Trust Can Do That a Will Alone Cannot
A will tells the world who gets what, but it generally has to go through the probate court before anything moves. A trust is different in structure: you create the trust, you transfer assets into it, and you name a trustee to manage and distribute those assets according to the instructions you wrote. Done properly, that can mean a quieter, faster, more private transition for the people you leave behind.
Trusts also give you something a will usually does not — control over timing and conditions. Instead of a single transfer on the day you die, you can direct that funds be held and distributed over years, or managed on behalf of someone who is not in a position to manage it themselves.
- Keeping the administration of your estate out of the public probate process
- Naming who steps in to manage assets if you become unable to do it yourself
- Spelling out how and when beneficiaries receive what you leave them
- Coordinating real property — residential and commercial — with the rest of your plan
- Pairing the trust with the health care and incapacity documents that belong beside it
- Addressing property and family situations that span Arizona and New Mexico
How We Work Through a Trust With You
We start with a conversation, not a form. What do you own, who depends on you, and what worries you most about what happens next? Those answers usually make the shape of the plan obvious. If a trust fits, we draft it to match your actual circumstances rather than a template. If a simpler set of documents would do the job, we will tell you that too.
From there we walk through the parts that people most often get wrong on their own: choosing a trustee who can realistically serve, writing distribution instructions that are clear enough to follow, and making sure assets are actually titled into the trust once it exists. A trust that never gets funded is just paper, and that is one of the most common problems we see when families bring us documents prepared somewhere else.
Attorney Solomon Kanu has been admitted to practice in Arizona since 2001, before the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 2002. He is also a member of the State Bar of New Mexico. He was named one of the Top 20 Solo Practitioners in Arizona by the State Bar of Arizona in 2012, recognized as an Excellent Lawyer by Avvo in 2011, and received Client's Choice in 2020.
What sets Dr. Kanu apart is his meticulous attention to detail and commitment to his clients' success.
Our clients have rated the firm 4.3 out of 5 across 152 reviews. We would rather earn that one careful file at a time than rush anyone through a signing.
Talk It Through With Kanu & Associates
If you have been meaning to get a trust done for a year or two, this is the easy part — one phone call. Reach us at (602) 324-5320 or email solomon@kanulaw.com. Our office is at 15150 W Pk Pl Ste 215-2064, Goodyear, AZ 85395, and we are open Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm.
Bring whatever you have — deeds, account lists, an old will, a sketch on a napkin. We will take it from there and help you move forward with confidence.