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Mom or Dad has passed away, the probate process is underway, and there it is: the house. Maybe it’s the house you grew up in. Maybe it has been in the family for generations. Maybe you have already mentally moved your furniture into the living room and decided that the wallpaper in the guest bathroom… Read More

A GRAT is a type of irrevocable trust in which a grantor transfers assets to the trust in exchange for annual annuity payments during a fixed term, with the remainder of the gift passing to the grantor’s beneficiaries and excluded from the donor’s estate. The creation of a GRAT results in an immediate taxable gift… Read More

IRA account holders typically designate individuals as beneficiaries who will inherit the account upon the account holder’s death – such as “all to spouse” or “in equal shares to children.”  However, a trust can also be named as an IRA beneficiary, and in some instances may be a better option than an individual beneficiary.  When… Read More

In this webinar, Attorney Rachel J. Wright from our Estate Planning and Probate Group will be discussing "Your Last Party (And Who Gets To Throw It)" https://youtu.be/dmrk8nRJ2yc?si=laK33AbWxVEr3nXQ Read More

July 1 falls on a Wednesday this year, but it is anything but an ordinary Wednesday for Washington estate tax. July 1, 2026, is the date Washington’s estate tax rates are scheduled to change once again—and this time, the news is mostly good for estates of all sizes. Washington's estate tax has been in flux… Read More

In a related post, “Your Last Party: Why Funeral Planning Matters”, we talked about all the ways a person can make their grand exit: burial, cremation, composting, water cremation, space travel, tacos, dancing, and the critically important question of whether there should be an open mic at the celebration of life. Now comes the less… Read More

Funeral planning tends to fall into the same category as updating your estate plan, reviewing your insurance, or cleaning out the garage: everyone agrees it should probably happen, and almost everyone would rather do literally anything else. But here’s the thing. Your funeral, memorial, burial, cremation, composting, water-cremation, tree-planting, space-launching sendoff may be the only… Read More

In this webinar, Attorney Joshua G. Curtis discusses "June 2026 Changes to Probate Administration." Read More

Effective June 11, 2026, the legislature updated the probate statute for probates of estates where the decedent did not have a will.  The changes generally attempt to increase transparency in the probate process and ensure that the heirs and beneficiaries of an estate receive as much as they are entitled to.  In the past, some… Read More