Probate Attorney Blog

Estate Planning: Important But Not Urgent I don’t think there is any doubt that you know that estate planning is important. You understand that a will, a trust, a power of attorney, or a lack thereof could change your life and the lives of our family forever. So why aren’t you getting your estate plan done? It’s the problem of estate planning being important but not urgent. And today, a Seattle estate planning attorney is going to show you how…

You Are Going To Die… I hate to break it to you, but you are going to die. We all are. That we know. What we don’t know is when, or where, or how. But that’s okay, because we have free will. We have the ability to make choices. We can choose to get the most out of today. We can choose to be grateful for the people in our lives. And we can choose to prepare in advance for…

#RichLifeLawyer Show 036: The Number One Problem With Trusts In Estate Planning In the last episode of the #RichLifeLawyer Show I told you how to avoid probate without using a trust. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think trusts are useful (I just don’t think they are necessary to avoid probate). Trusts are extremely useful at creating generational wealth, creating a family “bank,” and providing unbridled opportunities for future generations while at the same time ensuring those same generations have…

#RichLifeLawyer 035: 5 Ways to Avoid Probate Without a Trust Talk to most estate planning attorneys and they are going to tell you you need a trust for one primary reason – to avoid probate. What they may not tell you (especially if they aren’t good or trustworthy) is that there are a lot of other ways to avoid probate – ways that don’t actually cost you any money. Now, there are a lot of other reasons you want to…

#RichLifeLawyer Show 034: What is a Trust and How Does It Work? I figured today was a good day to get it back to basics. We already talked about how the presidential race could effect estate taxes. And we talked about how traditional estate plans fail to do what they are really meant to do. Today I wanted to talk about some of the mechanics of estate planning. So let’s talk about what a trust is and how it’s actually…

#RichLifeLawyer Show 033: Presidential Politics and Estate Planning Watching Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump go toe to toe last night in their first debate got me thinking about the effect that president’s can have on estate planning and the approach one takes to creating an estate plan. As I started to think about it, I realized there are actually some pretty significant changes that can occur from one president to the next. And then I took a look at what…

#RichLifeLawyerShow 032: The 4 D’s of a Traditional (Bad) Estate Plan Contrary to what most estate planning attorneys state, much of what estate planning is today is the formulaic entry of information into a form that is then signed and stored away until something happens. It has been driven this way because many estate planning lawyers approach what they do with a desire to make sure all of their D’s are covered. Find out what that is in today’s episode…