A lis pendens is a notice of a lawsuit involving title to a piece of real estate.  It is recorded in the real estate records of the county where the real estate is located and it puts the public on notice of the lawsuit.  It can result in potential buyers of the property and potential lenders to the property’s owner not wanting to deal with the property owner because of the risk that the property owner’s title to the property is not what they thought it was.  In addition, anyone who receives a conveyance of the property...Read More

In July of 2017, Governor Jay Inslee signed into law legislation guaranteeing paid family leave to employees across Washington State. The groundbreaking move places Washington in a small group of states who have passed such legislation. While prior law generally mandated only unpaid leave and left many employees ineligible due to the size of their employers, the new law will cover nearly all employees in Washington who have worked at least 820 hours in employment during the qualifying period.  The law will offer the most generous paid leave plan in the country with a minimum of 12...Read More

Around this time every year, high school students begin preparing and sending out applications for admission to colleges, universities, or vocational schools.  For individuals with a Child Support Order, this is a critical time to review the order.

When your Order was entered, the Court may have assigned responsibility for payment of your child’s post-secondary educational expenses—tuition, room & board, books, health insurance, auto insurance, a student allowance, and other similar expenses.

However, in many cases, allocation of these college, university, and vocational school expenses are “reserved” for future determination.  If the issue was “reserved”, you must...Read More

An easement is a right to use (not own) someone else’s land.  The party who enjoys the “use” is referred to as the “benefitted party” or “grantee”, while the party who owns the land is referred to as the “burdened party” or “grantor”.  Commonly, the right and burden of “use” stays with the land for the benefit and burden of subsequent owners.  The nature of the “use” can vary widely depending on the circumstances.   Easements can be created in a number of ways including by express (written) grant, implied from parties’ conduct, and by prescription.  Similarly, easements...Read More

When parties form a contract, they usually write the contract with terms conforming to their intentions and expectations. Unfortunately, sometimes one or both parties err in accurately expressing these intentions and expectations within the terms of a contract.  To make matters worse, one party often reaps the benefit of that mistake and will defend the contract vigorously to take advantage of the benefit.  In such disputes, the legal doctrines of unilateral mistake and mutual mistake often arise in the context of litigation between the parties.

When a party unilaterally makes a mistake, the party generally is not...Read More

In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act became law. Now, in 2019, one aspect of the new tax law takes effect by altering taxation of spousal support (‘alimony’). Under the old tax code, spousal support was considered tax deductible for the payer and counted as income for the receiver. With the inception of the new legislation comes a change making spousal support tax neutral. For individuals paying spousal support, such payments are no longer considered tax-deductible expenditures.  For the recipient, such payments are no longer considered income.  The deductibility of spousal support in divorce and separation proceedings was...Read More

Most closely held business owners are not familiar with the process associated with buying or selling a business. The process is comprised of four general steps: conversation, letter of intent, definitive documentation and closing.

Conversation

The first step in the process is the initial conversation between the buyer and the seller.  A simple conversation can spark interest and help both sides become aware of the potential for a deal. Both sides are then responsible for acquiring the information necessary to understanding the business...Read More

An escrow holder owes fiduciary duties to all parties to the escrow, and owes the same duty of fidelity that an agent or trustee owes to its principles.  Parties to escrows frequently misunderstand these duties.  It is not an escrow holder’s job to sort out ambiguities of a contract between the parties; rather, the escrow holder’s duties are defined by the actual escrow instructions given by the parties.  An escrow holder also cannot prefer one party over the other, or disclose one party’s confidences to the other without consent.  Escrow holders are not to be arbiters of...Read More

In the midst of divorce proceedings, the effect of those proceedings on existing estate planning documents and whether the estate planning documents should be replaced are probably not high on a person’s list of things to consider.  Under Washington law, a Will signed during marriage that gives property or powers to a spouse is revoked as to that spouse when the parties divorce, unless the Will expressly provides otherwise.  However, in Washington, the Will is not revoked as to relatives of that spouse who may be named in the Will.  Sometimes, a Will includes a bequest to...Read More

Five key moments occur between management and employees that simultaneously are the most vulnerable to danger and offer the most opportunity to build a positive relationship. Beth Van Moppes calls these The Five Danger Zones of Management. These interactions happen when an employee is the most exposed and thus the most wary of management. As a result, how you, the manager, handle the situation, can make or break the relationship. Break it and it could become a large part of that employee’s lawsuit against your business.

The Five Danger Zones are:

1. Hiring
2. Performance Management (Spontaneous & Planned)
3. Complaints
4. Leave & Accommodations
...Read More