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Kierman Law PLC Life Planning Made Easier. Kierman Law focuses on estate planning, probate litigation, asset protection, and charitable giving.

Protect your family and financial assets for the future, whether you have a high net worth or just want to ensure proper guardianship. Update or reimagine life plans in the event of the birth of a child, divorce, remarriage, adoption, or other life or financial changes. Provide for your elderly or special needs family members.

For many Arizona families, the home is the biggest asset, and probate is the biggest obstacle to passing it on. An Arizo...
10/13/2026

For many Arizona families, the home is the biggest asset, and probate is the biggest obstacle to passing it on. An Arizona beneficiary deed is one tool that can help.

A beneficiary deed lets you name who receives your real estate when you pass away, without probate. You stay in complete control while you are alive. You can sell, refinance, or change your mind at any time, and your beneficiary does not need to sign anything. The catch is that it only works if it is properly drafted and recorded with the county recorder before your death. An unrecorded deed does nothing.

It also is not a full estate plan. A beneficiary deed does not help if you become incapacitated, and it does not address the rest of your assets or what happens if your named beneficiary passes away first. For some families, a trust is the better choice. For others, a beneficiary deed works well alongside the rest of the plan.

If you are in Arizona, call us at 480-719-7333 to find out which approach fits your family.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult an attorney for guidance specific to your situation.

A domain name is not the same thing as a website, and that distinction matters more than most people realize when planni...
10/02/2026

A domain name is not the same thing as a website, and that distinction matters more than most people realize when planning an estate.

Your domain is registered through a company like GoDaddy. Your website, your email, and your social accounts are separate assets that may live with different providers entirely. Simply writing "I leave my website to my daughter" in a will does not automatically transfer any of it. GoDaddy, like most registrars, requires an Estate Administrator to provide legal documentation, a death certificate, and government photo ID before it will even consider granting access, and that process must be initiated properly, not assumed.

The biggest practical risk is not a legal dispute over ownership. It is simple non-renewal. An expired domain can be deleted, transferred, or re-registered by someone else entirely, sometimes within a matter of weeks. Auto-renewal, a current payment method on file, and an accessible account record are the difference between a domain that survives an estate administration and one that quietly disappears.

For business owners, a domain often carries real value connected to a brand. Your estate plan should give your fiduciary clear authority to renew, maintain, transfer, sell, or distribute your domains, and you can name a specific person to inherit a particularly valuable one. Keep passwords in a separate, secure digital asset record, not written directly into your will or trust.

At Kierman Law, we help Arizona individuals, families, and business owners build estate plans that address both traditional and digital assets. Call us at 480-719-7333 to make sure your domains are part of the plan.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult an attorney for guidance specific to your situation.

BuzzFeed collected some of the most unhinged will reading stories on the internet, and we have not stopped laughing.Our ...
10/01/2026

BuzzFeed collected some of the most unhinged will reading stories on the internet, and we have not stopped laughing.

Our favorite is number 19:

"My vindictive grandmother left my aunt $20 as a reminder of the $20 my aunt stole from her once." (Anonymous)

Funny? Absolutely. But behind every one of these stories is the same lesson. Your will or trust gets the last word, and if your family is left guessing, or stung by a surprise they never saw coming, that is what they will remember. A clear plan, made thoughtfully and explained to the people it affects, is what keeps a reading from becoming a story.

Read the full list here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/tanishtha_kotian/unhinged-will-reading-stories

If you are in Arizona and want a plan with no unpleasant surprises, call us at 480-719-7333.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult an attorney for guidance specific to your situation.

09/30/2026

I've been working with a client in his nineties whose estate plan sorely needed to be updated while he could still do the updating.

As part of our process, I realized he had a couple of old accounts and a couple of old trusts. I don't think his kids would ever have found them if he had passed. Fortunately, we were able to wrap them into his new trust, consolidate some of the accounts, and put procedures in place so his kids will know the money is out there.

If you have old documents, old accounts, or you just aren't sure what your kids would do if you passed, call me. If you live in Arizona, call (480) 719-7333. I would love to work with you.

Your family can't find what they don't know exists.

If someone you love has a disability, leaving them money the wrong way can cost them the very benefits they depend on.Sw...
09/29/2026

If someone you love has a disability, leaving them money the wrong way can cost them the very benefits they depend on.

Swipe through these slides for what every family with a special needs loved one should know: how a special needs trust protects SSI and Medicaid eligibility, the difference between first-party and third-party trusts, what the trust can and cannot pay for, how to choose a trustee, why funding the trust and matching your beneficiary designations matter, and how an ABLE account and a Letter of Intent fit into the plan.

Special needs planning is not really about money. It is about making sure your loved one is safe, supported, and cared for long after you are gone.
If you are in Arizona, call us at 480-719-7333 to start building that plan.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult an attorney for guidance specific to your situation.

We are honored to share that Kierman Law has been named a Jewish News Readers' Choice Winner for Best Lawyer.This recogn...
09/24/2026

We are honored to share that Kierman Law has been named a Jewish News Readers' Choice Winner for Best Lawyer.

This recognition means something different than an award chosen by a panel of judges. It comes directly from the community, from clients and neighbors who took the time to cast a vote. In a profession built on trust, integrity, and advocacy, being chosen by the people we serve is a powerful reminder of why this work matters.

Every estate plan we build starts with a relationship, and this award reflects the confidence so many Arizona families have placed in us over the years. We are grateful to everyone who voted and to the clients whose trust made this possible.

If you are ready to build an estate plan with a firm your community already recognizes, call us at 480-719-7333.

09/23/2026

A friend of mine kept telling her sister to come see me for an estate plan. Her sister got sick, and passed away before it ever happened.

She turned around and told her brother-in-law the same thing. He was busy, newly engaged, and didn't think he needed it yet. Now he's going through a divorce, and could lose up to half of what he owns.

I don't say this to scare anyone. I say it because the people who put this off almost never do it because they don't care. They do it because they think there's more time.

If you're in Arizona and you've been meaning to get this done, call (480) 719-7333. Let's actually get it on the calendar.

I would love to meet with you.

For frequent travelers, credit card points, airline miles, and hotel rewards can be surprisingly valuable, sometimes wor...
09/22/2026

For frequent travelers, credit card points, airline miles, and hotel rewards can be surprisingly valuable, sometimes worth hundreds of thousands of points across different accounts. What happens to them when the account holder dies is more complicated than most people expect.

Most rewards programs say the member never actually owned the points, just had a contractual right to use them. That means a will saying "I leave my airline miles to my daughter" does not necessarily force the airline to honor it. Delta and Southwest currently forfeit remaining miles or points when an account closes after death. Other programs are far more accommodating. American Express and Chase generally convert remaining points to cash. American Airlines may allow a one-time transfer with the right documentation, submitted within one year of death. Marriott and Hilton both allow transfers to a named recipient, with Marriott specifically honoring a beneficiary named in the will.

The lesson: every program has its own rules, and those rules change. A Personal Representative or Trustee should inventory rewards accounts early in the estate administration, right alongside bank accounts and investments, not wait until everything else is wrapped up. Some programs impose strict one-year deadlines.

If you have a substantial rewards balance, your estate plan should give your fiduciary authority to access, redeem, and transfer these accounts to the fullest extent each program allows, and for particularly valuable accounts like Marriott, naming a specific beneficiary can make the transfer significantly easier.

If you are in Arizona, call us at 480-719-7333 to make sure your digital and rewards accounts are part of your plan, not an afterthought.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult an attorney for guidance specific to your situation.

If you are old enough to sign a significant NIL contract, you are old enough to start thinking about what happens to the...
09/17/2026

If you are old enough to sign a significant NIL contract, you are old enough to start thinking about what happens to the money you are making.

A college athlete earning real NIL income, from sponsorships, endorsements, social media, or direct school compensation, may already have more financial complexity than people twice their age: investment accounts, an LLC, licensing rights, valuable social media accounts, maybe a car or property purchased with earnings. A revocable living trust becomes the center of a plan for who controls those assets if something happens to you, whether that means an injury that leaves you unable to manage your own affairs or something more permanent.

Here is what surprises a lot of families: once you turn 18, your parents do not automatically retain the legal authority they had over you as a minor. Even an athlete who has not earned a dollar yet should have basic powers of attorney and health care documents in place. For someone receiving substantial NIL compensation, a full plan should include a trust, a will, financial and health care powers of attorney, HIPAA authorization, and specific provisions addressing business interests, digital assets, and NIL contracts.

NIL money is business income, not spending money. Building a professional team, an attorney, a CPA, a financial advisor, should be part of the plan from the start, and that team should not all be the same person. Your trustee, your business manager, and your financial advisor create useful checks on each other when they are separate people.

If you are in Arizona and NIL income has turned you into a young business owner, call us at 480-719-7333 to build a plan that protects what you are building, not just what you are earning.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult an attorney for guidance specific to your situation.

09/16/2026

I have a big new probate and trust administration matter. The executor let her driver's license expire. At her age, it's been difficult to get the information needed to get a new one, which means she can't sign documents. We can't go before a notary, and we can't move forward. Meanwhile, time is passing and the bills are piling up.

It's something I never thought to ask before, but I'm asking now: does your executor, trustee, or power of attorney agent have legitimate, current photo government ID? If not, they may not be a good choice, no matter how much you trust them otherwise.

If you live in Arizona, call (480) 719-7333 today. Let's make sure the people you've named can actually step in when it matters.

A great choice on paper still needs to work in practice.

Address

14362 N Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, Suite 1000
Scottsdale, AZ
85260

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Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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