Probate Attorney Blog

Most people think disability insurance is covered by their employers and by the taxes they pay. This is not true! While your employer may provide you with some coverage in the event you are disabled and cannot work, this coverage is usually poorly suited to cover your actual needs. And your needs are many. Imagine a scenario where you are unable to work for two weeks, two months, or two years. How is your family going to survive? How are…

You ever play a game with someone and they “forget” to tell you all of the rules, so you make a bunch of moves in one direction with one strategy in mind only to find out that everything you thought was right is wrong? I definitely have, and there’s no worse feeling than that sinking pit in your stomach when you realize you are about to lose the game. The problem with that sinking feeling is that it can happen…

Whether you know this or not, your IRA, while you are alive, is protected from most creditors. It is protected from most lawsuits. It is protected from almost everything. This is not the case, however, when your kids or others inherit your IRA when you die. The reasons for this aren’t that important – *what is important is understanding that all of your hard work and saving could be wiped out in months if you aren’t careful.* So what is…

Many people don’t realize that their IRA, if they don’t spend it all down in their lifetime, can be used to create a “pension” for their kids if they take a few simple steps to secure that set up. That’s what we talk about in today’s show. It’s called “stretching” an IRA, and it’s the process of taking your IRA funds and created a new IRA for your beneficiaries. When the IRA is turned over to them they then become…

Probate is the process of settling the estate of a deceased person or “decedent”. It’s not a complicated process, and in many ways Washington State has one of the more streamlined probate systems in the United States, but it still can be long and frustrating. After losing a loved one, it’s often the last thing on someone’s mind and it can be difficult to sort through the decedent’s belongings to find all of the necessary information or paperwork required for…

I get two kinds of calls all the time in the office related to contesting a will. The first kind of call comes from someone who believes they have been wronged by someone in their will. Imagine someone doesn’t get something they thought they had something coming to them and they are angry – that’s the first part. The second kind of call I get all the time surrounding a will contest is someone that wants to create a will…

Many people don’t realize there are actually two different types of power of attorney. One type, the springing type, doesn’t actually exist until the person whom the power needs to be used for is incapacitated. The other type, durable, exists the moment the power of attorney is signed. Why does this matter? Why is it important? There are critical differences between the two that can make a family’s life easy or hard, depending on the choices made. To learn more,…