Recent News

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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… Read More

Beresford Booth is pleased to announce the addition of Andrew M. McKenzie to the firm. His practice areas include real estate litigation, commercial and civil litigation, and construction defect. We know that Andrew will be a terrific addition to our team. 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… 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… Read More