All For One or One for All... and Don't Forget the Cat

Complete New Legacy Portfolio

STARTING From SCRATCH MAKES IT EASY

We provide a free initial consultation to help you determine if our Living Trust Portfolio is a good fit for you. Most times, it will be if you are not going through divorce, being sued in litigation, or requiring specific legal advice due to your situation. For those type of situations, you should hire an attorney to represent you. For everyone else not requiring specific legal advise due to a serious legal issue affecting you, we can take care of this matter and by using us, you will save a bundle! It all starts with our well put together data worksheet that will help you get the most important information on paper for us to review with you before we start drafting your new Living Trust Portfolio which is the full soap to nuts approach. (You get it all)

A special note to young families: It may seem your 401-k plans and house equity (if you own your home) and bank savings may not add up to a lot when you are first starting out. But, many times life insurance benefits at work or policies maintained at home are forgotten in your "death estate" calculations. The reality is you need an estate plan, your young children (if you have some rug rats already), and your surviving spouse also needs an estate plan to co-ordinate it all intelligently and with no income tax or delays.  

Complete Updated Legacy Portfolio

Need to make changes in a current Trust portfolio?

Time passes quickly. People often seem shocked when they discover they need to update their estate plan. For any updates, we take the ball and run with it. Efficiently and speedy once you fill out our simple data worksheet. You only need to complete the sections that you want to change or amend. Just put it on paper and relax while we get things in order for you. The Full FSI Data Worksheet will guide you in those important areas you want to change or update in your current portfolio prepared by another firm. (or ours)

Don't have a full trust portfolio? No worries. Whatever you are missing you will get the missing important legal documents when you employ us to draft and update your current legal documents or estate plan. And we do it at a big discount over our "start from scratch" pricing.

Individual Products

 JUST THIS ONE THING OR ANOTHER

We get  it. Not everyone wants the full blown Living Trust Portfolio our firm is so well known in producing for Arizona families since 1992. So, you can order soup with no crackers sort of speak. Or crackers only. And don't forget about those pets. Do your current documents take care of them? We love pets and help you set up separate plans for your pets. Most law firms could care less about them. Sad.

After all these years of practice, we have some pretty nice plans for "Cally" the cat or "Rip" the dog. Heck, we even have an Arizona Living Trust Portfolio client who has a pet tortoise that hibernates for months in their closet each year! Whatever you have for pets and whatever you want, we provide special conditional gifts to help take care of them. And guardianship statements with appointed Pet Guardians to take care of them when you no longer can do so. Neat stuff you will like, custom drafted just for you only. Or you and your pet(s) that is.

Just tell us what you want to change (Your Will, Your Health Care Documents, etc.) and we will take care of it for you on a piecemeal basis either by the hour or "by the document" depending on what you want. 

Testimonials

Trust is everything. Without it, you have nothing.

M.D. ANDERSON

Michael D. Anderson's website, Inherited IRA Hell, is a sound inherited/ beneficiary IRA primer. The in depth and broad coverage of fundamentals there indicated to me a potentially practical and skilled working knowledge on the part of its author.

I gave Mike a try and have not turned back. My Enrolled Agents have been the best yet they were hesitant to dig into probate related matters outside my state of residence. As a team player, Mike was able to put it all together with the precision required to reduce fact finding time and its corresponding expense.

When one seeks others to enter into their business affairs, trust over the services of another or of an entity is cliche to the point of irritation and possibly even consternation; yet trust aptly describes the confidence that Mike has brought to my family.

The services delivered by most professions today can be overwhelming as well. It has been a comfort to have FSI process, administrate and problem solve the matters I brought to their attention. The format has been logical and backed up with written criterion to address my specific concerns.

Mike can accurately be defined with a phrase that has dropped out of use due to ill causatives. He possesses, what Dave Ramsey over the years has called, "the true heart of a servant". Moreover, he does not plunder what Steven R. Covey referred to as someone else's "rice bowl".

Brian M Fedorka

Columbus MS

Arborist, Former ASE master automotive tech

Way back in 1985 after listening to a free trust seminar, my wife and I decided we should have a family trust. It was costly and occasional up-dating fees were causing us to wonder if it was worth it. A few years after losing the love of my life in 2009, a friend recommended I go see Mike Anderson.

Although not a lawyer, he has had extensive training and experience with family trusts. The traumatic loss of my spouse changed some provisions of our marital trust. Mike suggested a trust amendment in the entirety as the lowest cost option to revise what became my sole, single person trust. The fee to receive his company’s entire “Trust Portfolio” was surprisingly modest, and all my important legal documents got updated.

About that time, The CPA with whom I had a ten-year relationship raised his fees once again. (I overheard one CPA tell another -- “If you do not lose 10% of your clients once a year, you are not charging enough.”) I again turned to Mike and found him to be a well-informed tax man as well as an expert in real estate.

Recently, I mentioned to Mike my desire to help my special needs grandchild who I wanted to leave money for to assist and supplement his financial support after my death. And assure money made available would not be taken by government agencies providing benefits. Mike explained how a Special Needs Trust (SNT) would work.

He informed me that he and his wife also had a mentally disabled adult child who he had designed a custom Special Needs Supplemental Trust for in his own estate planning. Mike showed his expertise in this important area of estate planning and I obtained the best there is, again for a modest fee.

You will find Mike friendly, extremely knowledgeable in wills, trusts, taxes and real estate. He has a lawyer consulting partner with vast world-wide experience who is Mike’s back-up for legal matters. Being up in years now, I have peace of mind knowing I have a financial adviser who is handling most of my financial matters and constantly watching my back.

"I have known Michael Anderson for some time as both a colleague and as an associate of our 105 year-old Brazilian international law firm, located in Rio de Janeiro. Mike and his Arizona firm, Financial Strategies, Inc. has been contracted to do strategic financial, tax, trust and estate planning and development on behalf of an important and long-standing client, a member of one of Brazil’s most famous families with assets in Brazil and abroad .

I can personally attest to his business acumen, sharpness of mind, outstanding professional abilities and most importantly, his honesty, integrity and professionalism in accomplishing the most difficult and complex tasks put to him.  Mike’s personal interest in the well-being and concern for the client’s interests entrusted to him is remarkable and noteworthy. His Estate Planning & Trust Portfolio has become a model for others attempting to match his efforts in producing such an important and meaningful document to both clients, their heirs and family members.

Our office has constantly dealt with professionals in all sectors world-wide over the years and I can attest to that fact that Mike is head and shoulders above them all. We look forward to a continued and fruitful relationship with Michael Anderson and his firm for years to come."

Saul S. Gefter, Esq.

U.S. Consul (ret.)

Member, D.C. Bar Assn.

Petrópolis, RJ Brazil  

 "My first interaction with Mike happened back in September 2005 approximately 1 month after my mother passed away in Sun Lakes, Arizona. Mike had made my mothers living trust some years prior to her death. I had copies of bits and pieces of the trust my mother had sent me but had never seen the whole trust until it was given to me by her new husband of 8 months only hours after her death. Being unfamiliar with the trust as well as devastated by the sudden passing of my mother I went through it briefly and hit what I felt were the high points. It wasn’t until I arrived back in Spokane, Washington that I sought out  help ciphering through the whole trust with the help of a reputable living trust attorney. His initial charge to complete it all would be between $15,000- $25,000. It was a fairly substantial trust but I felt that was a bit over the top. I then sat down and read it cover to cover and stumbled upon a statement that said to contact Mike Anderson if any problems were encountered reading the trust. So I figured I’d contact him before proceeding forward of course figuring another big price tag to get help!

Boy was I pleasantly surprised after speaking with Mike for just a few minutes and finding out he could take care of everything for somewhere around $1000-$1500 depending on what changes my mother had done to it. I sent the trust to Mike. From that point on I never had any worries. Mike kept in constant contact with me always keeping me informed of what needed to be done and when and then he took care of it. My mother (bless her heart) had made quite numerous changes some on her own and some with assistance from her new husband of 8 months. Most changes were done by pencil scratch out and re-written in new information. Mike was able to cipher through all the legal and questionable changes that had taken place and handled everything there in Arizona.

I felt so comfortable with Mike’s  guidance and knowledge I had him go ahead and make living trust’s for both me and my wife.  I have been in contact with Mike over the last 3 years asking guidance when I make additions and changes to my trust and he is always very expedient and professional in getting back to me. I cannot thank Mike enough for all the monetary value he saved but more for all the mental grief he saved me.  Thanks Mike!"

Retired  MSgt USAF

Max & Ellen Eskildsen

Mead, Washington 99021

 "It was my mother, Berniece Robb, who first  introduced me to Michael Anderson.  Mother's tax accountant extraordinaire for a period of time, she became aware of Mike's family trust preparation capabilities.  Contacting referrals, she received splendid encouragement from individuals who had engaged Mr. Anderson in preparing their trusts.  Mother placed her confidence in Mike and asked him to proceed with her estate.  Soon after, as I was a widow with three children, Mother encouraged me to do the same.  That was winter of 1992.

Mother died in April of 1996.  As difficult as the loss was emotionally,  Mike stepped up to the plate  (Mike was only a phone call away),  just as he informed us he would and as the trust would.   As successor to Mother's estate, I had immediate access to her accounts, including the ability to write checks for her funeral expenses.  There was no probate, no waiting, no need for approval from brokerage houses and financial institutions, and no added expenses.  Everything was in order and fell mercifully in place, thanks to Mike's foresight in trust preparation.

While periodic updates may be necessary due to changes in the law (I have had one), I can say with confidence that  I have peace of mind Mike will inform me of such changes and my children will experience the same ease when it comes time to settling my estate at my death.  My children will know my final wishes.  Short of that, the individuals I have chosen will have the trust tools (Powers of Attorney), to deal with all health and financial issues should I be incapable of doing so.

In all sincerity, Thank you Mike Anderson for offering me "Shaffer Family Trust" peace of mind.

Susan Shaffer

Phoenix, Arizona

 "Mike Anderson has been handling our taxes for our small business for about 20 years. He never keeps us waiting for answers when we have questions about anything from taxes to finances to real estate.  He is very knowledgeable and we know that we can trust his advice.

He recently did our trust for our family and it was wonderful!  He seems to make it come alive by the way he represents the family in personal ways by adding pictures of us and even our pets.  Mike makes our life run more smoothly and he does it at a very affordable price."

Frankie and Dennis Malicowski

Mesa, Arizona