Lynnwood Law Blog

People in Washington State who create a will should be able to expect that its terms will be followed as identified. However, this may not always be as simple as one might wish it to be. Despite the intentions of the person who created the will, the language used in the final document might leave some areas of it open to interpretation. This may then contribute to potential heirs disputing the will.

An example of this can be seen in the case of two women who died 12 days apart from each other. According to The New York Daily News, the women had been a couple for 18 years although they had chosen not to get married. One of the women was a psychologist and owned two properties and had other assets that left her with an estate valued in the millions. She worked with an attorney to develop a will that was finalized three months before her death due to cancer.

Many people in Washington State face the challenge of how to provide the best help to and care for an aging parent or other relative. One of the biggest problems encountered by families is how and when to have the conversation about ensuring adult children have the authority to help make decisions on the part of their parents. If you are concerned about this, you should know that it can be easier to have a durable power of attorney established while your parent is still in reasonably good health. 

As explained by Better Health While Aging, getting a POA in order early not only allows you to be able to manage your parent's affairs when needed but it may also eliminate the situation many people find themselves in later on when one family member accuses another of manipulating an ailing parent into signing such a document under duress.

Everyone in Washington State knows that mortality is real and someday they will die. Despite this fact, a great many people still have not taken the steps to create an estate plan. For some, this might be out of a fear of facing their humanity as people are often raised to fear death. For others, the avoidance of making an estate plan can be due to a lack of knowledge about where to start. This is understandable as there are many options when it comes to making a good estate plan.

As explained by CNN Money, there is often confusion about wills and trusts and which one to use when. There may be circumstances in which having both a will and a trust benefits people. One example is for people with minor children. A trust can provide direction on what happens to assets like a home and a will can establish guardianship of the children should the parents die while the kids are still young.

Residents in Washington State who have gone through the process of creating a thorough estate plan do not generally eagerly await the opportunity to do it again. This can be a very time-consuming experience and an emotional one as some very important decisions should be made and conversations should be had. However, the fact of the matter is that any estate plan should be kept updated as life changes often dictate this.

Forbes explains that some events such as the marriage or divorce of either the person who created the plan or one of their beneficiaries, executors or trustees warrants some changes to a plan. Similarly, the birth or death of one of these people would require some legal changes to be made. Major shifts in a person's set of assets or debts may logically require a new look at a will or a trust.