concentrates her practice in the areas of probate, trust and G/C administration and litigation. She is a certified specialist in estate and trust law and a licensed fiduciary. She is the 2007 Recipient of the Eleanor Ter Horst Distinguished Service Award given by the Probate & Trust Section of the State Bar for superior knowledge in probate and trust law; consultation to the bar, the courts and the public; participation in related committees and projects and enhancement of public awareness of trust and probate issues. She is rated AV-Pre-eminent (30+ years) and Top Rated Lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell and has been listed by SuperLawyers, Arizona’s Finest Lawyers and Best Lawyers of America (2023 & 2025 Best Lawyer of the Year, 2023 & 2025 Best Law Firm, Phoenix: Elder Law, Trusts & Estates, Litigation - Trusts Estates). She has served as a Judge Pro Tem for the Probate/Mental Health Division of the Maricopa County Superior Court since 1988; and is a certified arbitrator and settlement judge in the probate and civil divisions. She attended Northwestern University and Arizona State University College of Law (JD 1977). She is a former member (1988-92) and co chair (1990-91) of the Executive Council of the State Bar’s Probate & Trust Section, and the State Bar’s Continuing Legal Education Committee (1991-95). She served on the Advisory Commission on Estate and Trust Specialization (1991-98 and 2012-16, chair in 2016), the board of the Maricopa County Bar’s Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Section and the Arizona Supreme Court’s Probate Rules Committee. She was a Senior Editor of the Probate Practice Manual, 5th ed.2014 and 6th ed. 2022. She served on the 2014-15 Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy/Training Group which developed new policies, procedures and mandatory probate ADR training for the Maricopa County Superior Court. She was a member of the Arizona Supreme Court’s Task Force from 2017 through 2019, which re-wrote the Rules of Probate Procedure. She was a faculty member for the State Bar’s College of Trial Advocacy (2014-2018) and the Arizona Supreme Court’s mandatory training program for court appointed attorneys and guardians ad litem. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, and a member of the Sole Practitioner’s Probate Litigation Committee, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Arizona Fiduciary Assn and the Arizona Assn of Women Lawyers. She is a volunteer with the MCBA Probate Lawyer Assistance Program. She is qualified as an expert witness, special master, GAL, litigation conservator, arbitrator and mediator; and is a frequent speaker on probate and trust administration, GCs, litigation and professional ethics.

is admitted to practice in the Arizona Supreme Court and all lower courts within the state. He has been admitted to practice law in Arizona since 1989. In 2008, Mr. Elwell was admitted to the United States Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is also a member of the American Bar Association. Since 1989, Mr. Elwell has practiced law at Warner Angle Hallam Jackson & Formanek PLC. Mr. Elwell's law practice is devoted to elder law issues with specific focus on administration and litigation involving contested and uncontested decedent's estates, trusts, advanced directives, guardianships, and conservatorships. Much of Mr. Elwell's experience has focused on emergent circumstances where estates, trusts, or individuals are threatened with economic or medical harm unless prompt action is taken. He received his Bachelor of Science-General Business from The University of Arizona in 1986, and his Juris Doctorate from The University of Arizona College of Law in 1989. (5/2019)

John H. Barron, III is a member of Barron & Associates, P.C., Of Counsel to DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, PC, and is the managing partner of the Phoenix office. He received
his B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Arizona, and is admitted to the State Bar of Arizona (May, 1990) and the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, as well as the State Bar of Georgia. John has served as co-chair and secretary for the Mental Health, Elder Law and Special Needs Section of the State Bar of Arizona multiple times, served on the Mental Health Legislation sub-committee, and completed his tenure on the Arizona Supreme Court Probate Rules Task Force which drafted the new Arizona Rules of Probate Procedure, effective January 1, 2020. He is an associate editor of the 4th, 5th, and 6th editions (6th edition released 2022) of the Arizona Probate Code Practice Manual.
Early in his probate practice, as a private practitioner in Tucson, John was a special deputy Pima County attorney handling mental health litigation for Pima, Pinal, Yuma, and La Paz counties. He subsequently served as a deputy Maricopa County attorney representing the Maricopa County Medical Center Psychiatric Annex with respect to court-ordered behavioral health treatment and later, representing the Maricopa County Public Fiduciary in the administration and litigation of estate, guardianship, conservatorship and mental health matters.
Returning to private practice in 1997, John established himself as a litigator of matters relating to estates, trusts, guardianships, conservatorships, exploitation and/or abuse of vulnerable or incapacitated adults, Adult Protective Services actions, eligibility for persons entitled to mental health, developmental disability, and ALTCS related assistance - practicing in the trial, appellate, and administrative courts. In addition to the specific practice of law, he has also been a presenter and keynote speaker at seminars related to probate and mental health law such as the annual “Advanced Issues in Probate and Estate Planning” seminar, as well as in-service training programs related to probate, guardianship, and mental health law for medical personnel. John was the instructor for the Arizona Supreme Court Fiduciary Training Program, Decision Marking module, and continues to participate in the drafting of guardianship, conservatorship, surrogacy, and mental health statutes through legislative committees and on behalf of stakeholders. Barron & Associates, PC of Counsel to
DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, PC | 602.252.8100 | www.azprobatelawyers.com

Judge Dean M. Fink is the Presiding Judge of the Probate and Mental Health Department of the Maricopa County Superior Court. He has been on the Superior Court bench since June 2004. He began his judicial career as a commissioner. In August 2007, Governor Janet Napolitano appointed him as a judge. In addition to Probate/Mental Health, Judge Fink has served in the Family, Civil and Criminal departments of the Superior Court. He was also the Presiding Judge of the Arizona Tax Court from 2009 to 2014. Judge Fink currently serves on the Judicial Performance Review Commission of the Arizona Supreme Court. He previously served on the State Bar of Arizona’s Civil Practice and Procedure Committee, the Arizona Supreme Court’s Fiduciary Board, the Board of Directors of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Phoenix, the University of Arizona Student Life National Leadership Board, and the State Bar of Arizona’s Communications Advisory Committee. Judge Fink received his undergraduate degree in 1990 from the University of Arizona, where he served as the student body president. He received his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law in 1993. Prior to joining the bench, he worked at the law firms of Fennemore Craig, Kirkland and Ellis, and Lewis and Roca.