Recent News

Aug 4, 2022 Per Oscarsson and Linda Naish talk about Probate and Non-Probate Assets: What's the Difference? Read More

Recently, the Washington State Court of Appeals released an opinion on whether a parent has a constitutional due process right to parent a child born as a result of their sexual assault. In this post, I will elaborate upon the case and the court’s holding. In the Matter of the Parentage of: R.V. – The… Read More

One form of ownership of property in Washington is joint tenancy with right of survivorship. In this form of ownership, the joint tenants (the owners) own an undivided interest in the entire property, whether it is real estate or personal property. When one of the joint tenants dies, the typical result is that their interest… Read More

It is common for real estate to be encumbered by more than one mortgage or deed of trust.  Contexts vary greatly, from construction loans to borrowers just wanting to pull out equity using a home equity line of credit or traditional second mortgage.  In most situations, there is little question about which lender or lienholder… Read More

July 28th, 2022 Attorney Todd Cook presents: Comparing Forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution: Arbitration vs. Mediation. Read More

Welcome to part three of the ongoing series on common contract terms, with articles previously written here and here about indemnification and integration clauses, respectively. The topic for this post shifts to a discussion of severability clauses. Severability clauses, like integration clauses, often reside within the “boilerplate” provisions found regularly in contracts ranging across multiple industries and subjects. In other… Read More

July 21st, 2022 David Tingstad and special guest Patrick Reed, an attorney with the Washington Secretary of State’s Office, discuss a behind-the-scenes look at the services provided by the Corporations Division of the Secretary of State's Office. Read More

Washington State’s Receivership Act (RCW 7.60 et seq.) can be a powerful tool in a business dispute. However, there is a noticeable dearth of caselaw interpreting the Receivership statute. Therefore, parties are often left to making arguments based on principles of statutory interpretation, the legislative policies underlying the Act, or analogizing to federal bankruptcy law.… Read More

In my most recent blog post, I discussed indemnification, one of many regularly seen provisions found in numerous types of contracts notwithstanding their diversity of subject matter. While parties may or may not negotiate indemnification provisions into their agreement, so-called “boilerplate” clauses find home in contracts with even greater frequency, and concerningly, often without due… Read More