Representing Our Community Since 1959
Some Washington residents believe gifting a house to their adult children is an ideal way to avoid probate. While it may be so, putting the deed in their names can lead to other potential problems. More creative and safer ways are available to prevent your home from...
You may have found peace of mind in the fact that your loved one prepared a will and attended to other estate planning matters. This knowledge gives you hope that, when the time comes, the estate will pass on with little or no legal controversy. However, the news that...
Inheriting a home in Washington can present challenges to the heirs. When a parent passes away and leaves the family home to several children, deciding the appropriate course of action for how to handle the home might lead to conflicts between the parent's adult...
In a realistic sense, outside of the cash they received, children often don't really need the items their parents leave for them. Their inheritance may include a home full of lamps, beds, tables, chairs and all the rest, but these adult children have their own homes...
An elderly person who is doing their estate planning or updating an existing plan needs to have the mental capacity to do so correctly. Unfortunately, for many who suffer from degenerative diseases as they grow older, they may lack this capacity. This can lead to...
Could inheritance disputes be coming as wealth moves to the next generation? One reason that people feel frustrated with an inheritance is when they had expectations that were not met. Current research shows that that situation is playing out for a lot of families.For...
Estate disputes often involve adult siblings who do not agree on what they should do with their parents' estate or what their parents would have wanted. Maybe their parents had no estate plan and died unexpectedly, so it's up to them to sort it out, and they can't...
You do all that you can to make your will equal. You know that a lot of estate disputes arise when one heir gets more than the others. Siblings may spend years in court arguing over what should happen with your assets. You want to avoid that, so you just make...
You decide that you do not want to leave any of your assets to one of your children. You're cutting them off. As a result, when you draft your will, you just leave them out. That means they won't get anything, right?This is a dangerous mistake that many people make,...
Parents often say that they don't have a favorite child. Researchers say that's not true.A Cornell University study talked to 275 different mothers, asking them if they felt closer to one child than the others. Every mother in the study had at least two kids. These...