Estate Planning
Now is the time to invest in yourself and your family. Estate planning is necessary for everyone. Estate planning refers to a broad range of techniques, considerations, organization, information, arrangements, and, finally, documents, established for others to care for you when you can't care for yourself (because of age, accident, influence, disease, etc.) and to provide for your loved ones after you pass away. This includes managing your assets during your life and asset protection in relation to business operations and other liabilities.
Each personal and family situation requires a specific plan appropriate for that circumstance. As a Washington state estate planning attorney with a tax background, I interview my clients in-depth to determine which strategies are most appropriate to preserve and protect assets, minimize cost, eliminate probate (if desired), and prevent disputes among family and friends. I educate you about the process of administering an estate or trust, whether probate or non-probate, and warn you of potential pitfalls of different techniques (trust v. will, using a community property agreement v. not using one, etc.). Next, I write the necessary documents and provide counsel regarding ongoing maintenance of the plan. Washington state estate planning online is also an option with our office through phone, email or web conferencing.
If you already have estate planning documents in place (great job for being on top of your game at some point), the general recommendation is that you review them at least every 3-5 years. Even if you don't meet me to review them, pull them out for yourself and confirm all the people you named as agents in various documents are still living, your assets have not significantly increased or decreased, you haven't gotten divorced, remarried or widowed, and your general wishes are still the same. Chances are it's time for this kind of housekeeping. If circumstances have changed, you should come in for an official review and update. Inaccurate planning can be worse than no planning sometimes.
Sample of Estate Planning Services:
Now is the time to invest in yourself and your family. Estate planning is necessary for everyone. Estate planning refers to a broad range of techniques, considerations, organization, information, arrangements, and, finally, documents, established for others to care for you when you can't care for yourself (because of age, accident, influence, disease, etc.) and to provide for your loved ones after you pass away. This includes managing your assets during your life and asset protection in relation to business operations and other liabilities.
Each personal and family situation requires a specific plan appropriate for that circumstance. As a Washington state estate planning attorney with a tax background, I interview my clients in-depth to determine which strategies are most appropriate to preserve and protect assets, minimize cost, eliminate probate (if desired), and prevent disputes among family and friends. I educate you about the process of administering an estate or trust, whether probate or non-probate, and warn you of potential pitfalls of different techniques (trust v. will, using a community property agreement v. not using one, etc.). Next, I write the necessary documents and provide counsel regarding ongoing maintenance of the plan. Washington state estate planning online is also an option with our office through phone, email or web conferencing.
If you already have estate planning documents in place (great job for being on top of your game at some point), the general recommendation is that you review them at least every 3-5 years. Even if you don't meet me to review them, pull them out for yourself and confirm all the people you named as agents in various documents are still living, your assets have not significantly increased or decreased, you haven't gotten divorced, remarried or widowed, and your general wishes are still the same. Chances are it's time for this kind of housekeeping. If circumstances have changed, you should come in for an official review and update. Inaccurate planning can be worse than no planning sometimes.
Sample of Estate Planning Services:
- Wills (Last Will and Testament)
- Community Property Agreements
- Revocable Living Trusts
- Financial Durable Powers of Attorney
- Health Care Powers of Attorney
- Health Care Directives
- Disposition of Remains
- Transfer on Death Deeds
- Prenuptial Agreements
- Postnuptial Agreements
- Lifetime Gift Planning
- Charitable Gift Planning
- Facilitation of Family Estate Planning Meetings
- Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILIT)
- Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRAT)
- Mediation (of trust and estate disputes)