In Washington, disputes in construction projects often involve complex issues between numerous parties.  Parties to a construction project may include prime contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and laborers, all of whom work with the expectation of compensation for their services.  When these parties are not paid for their work they may file and attempt to enforce liens to ensure their rightful payment.  RCW 60.04 governs the filing and enforcement of mechanics’ and materialmen’s liens, which are a crucial tool for collection efforts pertaining to unpaid construction work.  However, legal representation is often necessary to navigate through the...Read More

Individuals entering divorce proceedings often hold many questions about the process. When counseling people through divorce we consistently encounter one question: how will the marital assets be divided by the Court?

Factors Affecting Asset Division

RCW 26.09.080 provides us with an answer in that “the court shall…make such disposition of the property and the liabilities of the parties, either community or separate, as shall appear just and equitable after considering all relevant factors”. The statute goes on to discuss the four relevant factors:

• The marriage’s community property.
• Each partner’s separate property.
• The duration of the...Read More

Elizabeth (Beth) L. Van Moppes recently wrote an article for the April 2019 Washington State Bar Bulletin on the impact that unconscious bias can have on a workplace investigator's determinations and how to best fight those innate human biases. She states that implicit prejudice can have the greatest influence in an investigator's decisions about credibility. However, it also plays out in less obvious ways that the more readily identifiable immutable characteristics of traditionally disadvantaged groups like color, race, age, gender, ethnicity, and religion. Among the effects and influences that investigators can have upon their investigators, studies...Read More

What is an annual report?

An annual report is the yearly document your LLC submits to the Washington Secretary of State.  The annual report notifies the Secretary of State about relevant information pertaining to your LLC like the name, principal office location, registered agent, and nature of the LLC’s business.  The Secretary of State requires each LLC to file an annual report every year. Any LLC that does not file an annual report will be administratively dissolved by the Secretary of State.

To file your annual report in the State of Washington you must adequately and...Read More

Great excitement and uncertainty surround the evolving cryptocurrency market (“crypto”).   As crypto grows in popularity as an investment or form of currency exchanged in lieu of cash, so grow the issues crypto presents in divorce and legal separation cases.  Given the unknowns that the crypto industry brings, involvement of these assets in our cases can be complex.

What is cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange utilizing certain encryption techniques to secure transactions and control the introduction of new crypto units into the market.  Unlike traditional currency, there is no centralized power (i.e. a government) regulating...Read More

A person’s Will does not usually deal with “non-probate assets.”  Non-probate assets are the rights and interests of a person in an asset that pass on the person’s death under a written instrument or arrangement other than the person’s Will.  Examples include property owned as joint tenants with right of survivorship, payable-on-death bank accounts, and transfer-on-death securities or security accounts.  There are numerous other examples.  For a payable on death bank account, the person to receive the funds in the account upon the owner’s death is identified in the forms creating or modifying the account.  As...Read More

One of the requirements for making a valid will is that the testator have the legal capacity to do so.  Sometimes heirs or would-be-heirs under a will contend that the provisions thereof could not have been the testator’s true intentions, that the testator must not have been of sound mind, and that the will must therefore be unenforceable.  Beneficiaries are more likely to feel this way when their understanding of the strength of their relationship with the testator diverges significantly with their share of the estate’s assets to be distributed by the will as written.  Although...Read More

For closely-held business owners, the idea of selling your business appears daunting. Where do you start? What do you need to know before beginning the process?

Several months ago, we published an article discussing the general process of buying and selling a business. This is a further discussion and includes other issues. There are many details to address throughout the sale process, and discovering these details proves difficult without the assistance of experienced legal counsel. At Beresford Booth, we provide this experienced counsel which the closely-held business owner...Read More

When a creditor obtains a judgment against a debtor, there are numerous possible avenues for enforcement.  Typical collection efforts may include wage garnishment, bank garnishment, and personal property execution.  Collection strategies depend greatly upon the financial circumstances of the debtor.  One nuanced area of enforcement involves collection efforts against a debtor who is a member of a limited liability company (“LLC”).

Some debtors will form LLCs to shield their financial assets and income from collection.  However, an LLC does not provide absolute protection.  Under RCW 25.15.256, courts may in certain circumstances issue a charging order that...Read More

What is Equitable Indemnity?

Sometimes a party’s wrongful act or omission causes the wronged party to enter litigation with an unrelated third party. The common law theory of equitable indemnity says that the separate third party may be entitled to compensation from the initial wrongdoer as an element of damages. In Washington, this rule is also known as the “ABC Rule”: When A wrongs B, causing B to litigate with C, B may be entitled to a judgment for money damages and attorney fees from A.

How is it applied?

For example, Barry buys a house...Read More