Thinking about revocable trusts in Arizona versus Nevada? Good news: both states make it easy to avoid probate, stay organized, and keep control while you’re alive. But there are practical differences worth knowing—especially around taxes, community property, and where your trustee lives.
Where They’re the Same
Probate avoidance. Funding your assets (house, bank accounts, brokerage) into a revocable trust avoids the court process in either state. That saves time, privacy, and often money.
Control and flexibility. You’re the grantor, often the trustee, and the primary beneficiary during life. You can amend or revoke as life changes.
No asset protection while revocable. In both states, a revocable trust doesn’t shield your assets from your own creditors. (Nevada’s famed asset protection rules apply to irrevocable structures, not revocable living trusts.)
Medicaid and benefits. Assets in a revocable trust are generally treated as available resources in both states.
Community property with right of survivorship. Both Arizona and Nevada are community property states and allow community property with right of survivorship titling, which can deliver a clean step-up in basis at the first death and streamlined administration.
Where They Differ
Trust administration options. Nevada’s trust code is famously flexible (directed trusts, easy decanting, strong trust-friendly statutes). Those perks can be handy for larger or multigenerational plans. For a standard revocable living trust used mainly to avoid probate, they’re nice—but not usually decisive.
Choosing governing law and trustee location. You can draft a revocable trust to use Arizona or Nevada law. In practice, the trustee’s residence and where the trust is administered drive “situs.” If you appoint a Nevada trustee and run the trust from Nevada, the trust will likely be administered under Nevada law. If you live and administer in Arizona, expect Arizona law to play the starring role.
Real estate outside your home state. Own a cabin in another state? Titling it in your revocable trust avoids ancillary probate there. Whether you pick Arizona or Nevada law, be sure every out-of-state property is properly deeded into the trust.
Transfer-on-death tools. Both states offer transfer-on-death deed options, but paperwork and naming conventions differ. If your plan relies on a trust, fund the deed to the trust to keep everything coordinated.
And the Tax Question
State income tax. Nevada has no personal income tax. Arizona has a flat income tax. But here’s the key: most revocable trusts are “grantor” trusts, meaning your income is taxed to you personally. If you live in Arizona, your trust’s income is typically taxed in Arizona regardless of selecting Nevada law. Moving the trust’s “situs” to Nevada won’t erase Arizona personal income tax if you’re still an Arizona resident. If you truly live in Nevada, the no-income-tax benefit follows you. (By the way, Arizona doesn’t have an estate tax or inheritance tax.)
A revocable living trust works similarly in both states: you keep control, you can amend or revoke anytime, and there’s no asset protection from your own creditors while the trust is revocable. The real distinctions come from state income tax, community property options, and some administrative “nice to haves” in Nevada that matter more for complex or multistate estates.
For most families, revocable trusts in Arizona versus Nevada perform the same core job: avoid probate and keep things organized. Your residence (and your trustee’s) drives taxes and administration more than the state name on page one.
