The primary client base served by Entrust consists of elder and developmentally disabled adults in Yuma and Maricopa counties. We also support and serve the families serving these populations.

Dawn Walters

co-founder of Entrust Fiduciary Services, Inc. Founded April 27, 2004 in response to an overwhelming need in the Yuma community for a private provider of fiduciary services. Dawn managed the firm’s guardianship services, providing direct, hands-on service to clients. This business model has evolved into Entrust Guardianship Services, LLC.

Focusing exclusively on the guardianship and case management aspect of the fiduciary practice, we have expanded our service base into the Phoenix area while actively serving clients and engaging professionals in Yuma County. Our Yuma clients benefit from this expansion by our broader reach in locating and obtaining specialized resources and services not readily available in the Yuma area.

Dawn is credentialed by the Arizona Supreme Court as a Licensed Fiduciary in Private Practice. She carried the designation from the National Guardianship Association as a National Certified Guardian from 2006 to 2011. On November 30, 2011 she was honored to attain the title of National Master Guardian. National credentials are voluntary, and represent a commitment to the highest standards of practice and professionalism.

National Master Guardian is the highest credential available in the fiduciary field. It represents a demonstrated mastery in all aspects of the guardianship practice, professional recommendations, an impeccable professional record, a stringent application process, and successful completion of an intensive exam, graded by a panel of National Guardians, which tests for the highest level of competency across the full spectrum of the practice. There are few Master Guardians nationwide and only a handful in the State of Arizona.

Dawn was elected to the Board of the Arizona Fiduciaries Association on February 23, 2012. Her focus on the board will be on legislative and policy issues, sponsorship, and other projects at the Board’s discretion. She is a long time member of and contributor to the Arizona Fiduciaries Association and a member of the National Guardianship Association.

Dawn holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Latin American Studies from the University of Texas, where she graduated magna cum laude. She has prior experience in project management, public policy, legislative issues, and county affairs. She has been trained in hundreds of hours of specialized continuing education topics including identifying, reporting, and prosecuting elder abuse, neglect and exploitation; geriatric pharmacology; dementia, both regarding the types of dementia and importance of proper diagnosis, and behavioral interventions as an alternative to medicating difficult behaviors.

Public policy, advocacy and community outreach have been lifelong interests and pursuits, which made her a perfect fit as founder of Entrust, whose major focus is advocating for the rights and best interests of persons with diminished capacity and who advocates for compliance and for improving existing public policy to better serve protected persons. Her career experience is diverse, encompassing both the private and the public sector, including work with a Fortune 500 company, an Internet startup, a United States congressman, and as a policy analyst and program administrator for an association of counties in the State of Texas.

She has been invited to present for community leaders and continuing education events for fiduciaries, social workers, nurses and long term care licensees on topics including rights advocacy, elder abuse, ethical concerns in decision-making, fiduciary matters, and life planning. Her work has been credentialed through the Hospice of Arizona Non-Profit Foundation.

Dawn was honored to be invited as a presenter the First Annual Canadian Conference on Elder Law, sponsored in October 2005 by the prestigious Canadian Centre for Elder Law. She has given numerous community presentations and training sessions to various local organizations on aging related topics such as end-of-life planning, alternatives to guardianship, and issues related to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.