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The 1970 Disney animated classic, the Aristocats, begins with the wealthy Madame Adelaide Bonfamille deciding to leave her substantial fortune to her pet cats. Her loyal butler, Edgar, is to inherit whatever is left after the four cats die. Edgar finds out about the terms of Madame Bonfamille’s Will and, after some poorly done mathematics,… Read More

March 30th, 2023 Beresford Booth presents Adult Guardianships and Less Restrictive Alternatives. Read More

In her hit song “Anti-Hero,” Taylor Swift includes the lyric I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the moneyShe thinks I left them in the willThe family gathers 'round and reads it and then someone screams out"She's laughing up at us from hell" Ms. Swift raises some interesting legal issues here. This post… Read More

March 2nd, 2023 Beresford Booth Lawyer Per E. Oscarsson discusses fiduciaries and how to choose one for your estate plan. Read More

February 2nd, 2023 Beresford Booth's Estate Planning Lawyer Linda E. Naish presents Who? What? When? Estate Planning Editions. Read More

The general rule is that the disposition of nonprobate assets is not governed by a will. The disposition is usually governed by the form of ownership, such as joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or a beneficiary designation in the document creating the asset, such as a transfer on death security account with a beneficiary… Read More

In Part 1 of this series of articles on nonprobate assets (See here), I discussed the general definition of nonprobate assets under Washington’s probate and trust law. In Part 2 of this series (See here), I discussed the definition of nonprobate assets in the context of the dissolution or invalidation of a marriage or state… Read More

October 27th 2022, Per E. Oscarsson, Linda Naish and Mitch Brewe from RBC, talk about End of Year Estate Planning: Are You Ready? Read More

As I described in a previous post, Washington probate and trust law generally defines a “nonprobate asset” as well as the types of assets that are not included within that definition (See here for previous post). However, the definition of “nonprobate asset” is not consistent for all purposes. RCW 11.07.010 provides, in part, that if… Read More