News From the Desk: May 2019

By May 14, 2019 March 4th, 2020 No Comments

The official start of summer is still a month away, but we are enjoying these warmer and longer May days. We hope you are too!

On April 19, Sherry served as a discussion leader for the King County Bar Association’s “Estate Planning for the 99%” continuing legal education (CLE) seminar. This CLE program focused on estate planning for clients whose asset levels fall below the Washington and federal estate tax filing thresholds. Sherry led a group of attorneys in a discussion regarding best practices in drafting wills and trusts for clients with non-taxable estates.

Some of our potential clients ask us if they need estate planning because they “don’t have much of an estate.” Many estate planning attorneys focus exclusively on clients who do have high asset levels and require sophisticated tax planning techniques. To the contrary, many of our clients aren’t among the wealthy elite. But they nonetheless still need to have a way to distribute their assets according to their needs and wishes, through comprehensive estate planning work. I believe that everyone should have an estate plan, regardless of the extent of their wealth.

Recent Updates from Our Blog

It’s Not What You Think It Is

“There’s no law against this!” Or is there? Stacey uses a recent dispute over a Greenlake parking space to discuss why some of our preconceived notions about what is “legal” may be well off the mark.

What Business Owners Should Know About Personal Guarantees for Commercial Leases

Sherry explains how providing a personal guarantee for a commercial lease might keep business owners on the hook for rent due well after their business ceases to exist.

Governing by Committee Isn’t a Great Estate Planning Strategy

Using the estate of the late singer Tom Petty as an example, Stacey discusses why putting more than one person in charge as co-Personal Representatives, co-Trustees, or co-Attorneys-in-Fact may create needless chaos and family disharmony.

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