Recent News

Federal law imposes a tax on gifts made in excess of a specific amount in a calendar year to a specific recipient (known as a “donee”).  That tax is usually paid by the donor (the giver) of the gift.  The specific amount is known as the annual gift exclusion.  For the past four years, the… Read More

The “basic exclusion amount” is the amount of a deceased person’s estate that passes free of federal estate tax.  This differs from the unlimited marital deduction that applies when one spouse dies and transfers all of his or her interest in property to the surviving spouse.  There is a basic exclusion amount for federal estate… Read More

November 11, 2021 Estate planning team lawyers Matthew Cruz, Per Oscarsson and Sarah Smith present distribution issues in estate administration in Washington State. Read More

October 14th, 2021 Per Oscarsson answers a common estate Question: How Do My Debts Get Paid? Read More

As I described in the previous post, Washington enacted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RCW Chapter 11.120) (the “Act”) that allows a Washington user of digital assets (such as e-mail, social media, etc.) to provide directions giving, limiting, or denying a designated fiduciary access to their accounts.  The user can allow… Read More

August 19th, 2021 attorneys Per Oscarsson and Sarah Smith discuss Intestate Distribution and what happens if you don't have a will or trust. Read More

Many people have one or more social media accounts.  Many people have one or more e-mail accounts.  These accounts are used to communicate with others in one way or another.  Online banking is another type of account.  Often, the user of the account does not want anyone else to have access to their account.  But,… Read More

July 22nd, 2021 Attorneys Matthew Cruz, Per Oscarsson, and Sarah Smith discuss some of the common misconceptions around trusts and whether or not you might need one. Read More

June 24th, 2021 Per Oscarsson and Sarah Smith discuss the benefits and consequences of having or not having a will. Read More