ESTATE PLANNING IN WASHINGTON

The “real” purpose of estate planning is to show love and respect for the people you care about. Upon your death, you don’t want to compel your family, friends and business partners who are involved with your estate to deal with a complicated, expensive and time consuming mess in administrating your estate. To the contrary, good estate planning creates a roadmap to ease the burden of estate administration. Our estate planning attorneys will listen to your needs and goals, make recommendations based upon your individual circumstances, and prepare documents including:

• Wills
• Testamentary Trusts in Wills for children and dependents
• Naming Guardians in Wills in the event of both parents’ deaths
• Trusts designed to minimize or eliminate state and federal estate tax
• General Durable Powers of Attorney for financial matters
• Durable Powers of Attorney for health care decisions
• Health Care Directives (“Living Will”)
• Living Trusts
• Community Property Agreements
• Mental Health Advance Directive
• Memorial Instructions

Having a Will

I strongly believe that every adult should have a Will.

The decisions involved in finalizing a Will are a very healthy process for people to undergo.  Everyone’s situation is unique. For example, when I was a junior tennis player, I received financial assistance through a tennis foundation in order to afford to travel throughout the Intermountain region and play tennis tournaments at a competitive level. That assistance eventually enabled me to earn an athletic scholarship to help attend college.  Now, I think it’s important to give a portion of my estate back to a similar charitable program – to give other kids a chance to play and compete!

What’s your unique life story?  How does that influence your estate planning goals now?  By creating a Will, you can turn those goals into a reality.

Seattle is unique in terms of demographics!  Like many residents of Seattle, I am single.  I love working with other single people in developing their Wills and estate plans. Our Seattle practice also enjoys working with gay and straight couples, whether married or unmarried. We recognize the unique challenges that unmarried relationships can pose in estate planning, and we’re happy to work with you to make sure your goals are met. We also focus on making sure that people take care of their pets as part of this process.  Pets are part of your family too!