Recent News

February 17th, 2022 attorney Per Oscarsson discusses estate and gift taxes. Read More

The trust is one of the most popular tools in estate planning.  Generally speaking, a trustor (also sometimes known as a settlor or grantor) establishes a trust for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries (the parties benefitted by the trust).  A trustee (who controls the trust property) then administers the trust for the benefit of those… Read More

January 20th, 2022 Attorneys Per Oscarsson and Sarah Smith outline a few common issues with minor inheritance. Read More

December 23rd, 2021 attorneys Matthew Cruz, Per Oscarsson, and Sarah Smith outline the basics of resolving disputes, in the context of estate administration. Read More

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