Elder Law
Elder law means many things to many people. At Rubin & Bernstein our elder law practice encompasses:
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Estate planning
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Drafting wills and trusts, healthcare and durable powers of attorney, and beneficiary deeds
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Reviewing existing documents
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Transferring assets to trusts, to ensure that they are properly funded
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Special needs trusts and Able and Stable accounts
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Probate
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Decedent's estates
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Protective proceedings aka guardianships and conservatorships (which arise when people cannot look after themselves or their assets)
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Litigation
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Disputes among heirs or estate or trust beneficiaries
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In our elder law practice, many people we encounter face significant challenges. Parents with dementia. A child with special needs. Feuding relatives. We try, always, to look for the least restrictive, least costly, and least unfavorable options, recognizing needs, challenges, personalities, and cost.
Leigh leads our elder law practice. She’s been handling complex issues in the field for more than 20 years. Mark assists in all elder law areas and contributes most heavily on litigated matters.
Ethics, Professional Discipline, and Legal Malpractice
Our ethics, professional discipline, and legal malpractice practice areas include:
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Advising attorneys on professional responsibility and ethics issues
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Representing attorneys defending against complaints directed to the lawyer regulation system
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Representing parties who want to sue attorneys
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Defending attorneys against claims and suits brought by clients and others
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Providing expert witness testimony for or against attorneys in discipline or malpractice proceedings
Mark has worked on ethics and malpractice matters for more than 30 years. He’s a Go To attorney in Tucson for attorneys who face professional discipline. In addition, he has significant volunteer experience within both the discipline process, and as a drafter of the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct.
Southern Arizona Fiduciary Services LLC
Leigh and Mark hold active licenses from the Arizona Supreme Court – Nos. 20544 and 20546, respectively – to serve as Licensed Fiduciaries. They own and operate Southern Arizona Fiduciary Services LLC (SAFS) (License No. 20850).
In Arizona, courts can appoint Licensed Fiduciaries to serve as Guardians or Conservators, or as Personal Representatives (where they are not named in the Last Will and Testament.) SAFS exists as an adjunct to Rubin & Bernstein’s practice, to make Leigh and Mark available to serve in a fiduciary capacity when no one else is available or appropriate.
SAFS provides an option, both in the planning process and when a situation arises which no one contemplated. Wills and trusts identify SAFS as the Personal Representative / Trustee when someone dies, but SAFS also exists to step up in unforeseen situations because, as Robert Burns noted in To a Mouse, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
What’s our sweet spot? Case with difficult assets or challenging family dynamics. Mark deals with difficult business or real estate problems, while Leigh addresses situations where everyone stops talking (or, perhaps, no one will shut up.) Our staff supports these efforts, providing both administrative and social services assistance.
SAFS also provides trustee services where traditional bank trust departments won’t. We serve as the trustee in complex estate plan situations involving split dollar insurance. Cases in which the asset base – $1M to $5M – gives us lots of opportunities to solve problems and leaves major trust houses stuck with excessive fee schedules. Situations which involve real estate and other complex assets. And trusts which have beneficiaries who want lower fees and a more casual atmosphere.
Business and Real Estate Matters
We handle a variety of business and real estate matters, including transactions, litigation, and providing advice. For business and real estate situations, Mark takes the lead here. Whether our services involve a transaction, a dispute, or basic or complex advice, we try hard to get to good solutions as quickly as possible, taking into account goals and costs.