Probate Attorney Blog

Should I Add Someone to My Safety Deposit Box? I had someone come into the office the other day with a problem. Their mom had passed away and owned a safety deposit box. As mom fell ill, she wanted to make sure she had continued access to the safety deposit box even if she couldn’t go down there herself and access it. So she added someone to her safety deposit box to access it. When she passed away, they tried…

3 Benefits of Trust Planning (Other Than Avoiding Estate Taxes) We’ve spent a lot of time talking about trust planning as it relates to estate tax avoidance and reduction, and I wanted to take a little time to talk about some benefits of trusts outside of the estate tax arena. Some people either don’t qualify or don’t care about estate taxes, but that doesn’t mean you should just write off trust planning altogether. Here are a few things we talk…

Don’t Let Your Feelings Get In The Way of Probate This is a little rant based on a meeting I had a couple of weeks ago with someone I’m helping out with a probate. They are unhappy, not because the probate is progressing poorly, but because they are letting their emotional baggage cloud their judgment. When it comes to hiring a probate attorney or taking on the role of Personal Representative it’s important to understand that this kind of work…

How to Find a Cheap Estate Planning Attorney Finding a cheap estate planning attorney is easy – just start calling around until someone gives you a super low price without even learning about you, your family, or what you want. This episode isn’t so much about how to find a cheap estate planning attorney so much as it’s the potential downside of actually hiring a cheap estate planning attorney to help you out. The biggest thing to remember when it…

This week there is no story. No lesson. No article. No advice. Only thanks. Thank you for being a part of my life and my business, no matter how big or small. I appreciate you and wish you the happiest of holidays. If you have come into my life because you recently lost a loved one, then my continued condolences, and a reminder that the holidays are a great time not to mourn loss, but to celebrate the life of…

A Simple Way to Avoid Paying Estate Taxes If you live in Washington State your estate tax burden starts at $2.129 million dollars. That might sound like a lot, but when you factor in the price of real estate AND the fact that life insurance counts in that calculation, it doesn’t take much to reach that $2.129MM estate tax threshold. And, once you get there, the money adds up fast. On the first million over that mark you are paying…

The Goldilocks Method To Acting On Estate Tax Law Changes Earlier this week the House of Representatives unveiled proposed tax law changes that could have an effect on the federal estate tax if passed. It sounds as if they want to greatly increase the exemption amount (i.e. you get to keep more of your money before the tax kicks in) and eventually do away with the tax the whole way (otherwise known as “repeal”). Once that announcement was made people…