Washington Real Estate Excise Tax Thresholds Change January 1, 2027
For sellers of real property in Washington, this State’s Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) is typically a front-of-mind consideration. Washington uses a graduated scale to calculate the applicable REET for...
View ArticleDress for Success: Choosing the Fiduciary or Non-Fiduciary Hat
Employers that sponsor health and welfare plans for their employees rarely run them alone. They hire insurers, third-party administrators, and other service providers to process claims, calculate...
View ArticleWhat Happens When the Divorce Is in China but the Property Is in Washington...
I watched President Trump meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington D.C. last week. Trade was on the agenda. So was artificial intelligence. Taiwan. Iran. Technology. The long and...
View ArticleCan I Represent Myself in a Divorce in Washington State? | Pro Se Pros & Cons
If you are considering divorce, you are likely wondering whether you need an attorney, or whether you can handle the process yourself. Representing yourself in a legal matter is commonly referred to as...
View ArticleIs It Time to Dust Off Your Prenuptial Agreement?
Most people think a prenuptial agreement has only three destinations. It gets signed and placed in a drawer, it resurfaces during a divorce, or it is reviewed after the death of a spouse. Recently, I...
View ArticleMade by Machine? Washington Wants Consumers to Know
If your company builds large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) tools used by over one million consumers — such as systems that generate marketing images, create audio content, or power customer-facing...
View Article“I’m Too Young” and “I’m Not Rich Enough”: Two Common Estate Planning Myths...
If I had a nickel for every time I heard, “I don’t really need an estate plan yet, I’m not old enough nor am I wealthy enough,” I’d have three nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it is weird that it has...
View ArticleLitigating the Family Business in Probate
When a family business becomes entangled in a probate or estate dispute, the litigation landscape can look very different from standard commercial litigation. Fiduciary duties to the business, to the...
View ArticleHow to Avoid an Undue Influence Fight When Helping a Parent Change an Estate...
Helping an aging parent update a will, change a beneficiary designation, or make a substantial gift may feel like the responsible thing to do. Often, it is. But when the change benefits the child who...
View ArticleWhat to Expect at Trust and Estate Mediation in Washington
Mediation is less like a courtroom showdown and more like a marathon negotiation. Knowing what the day actually looks like can make it far less stressful. If you are involved in a contested matter...
View ArticleSome Differences Between a Traditional Divorce and the End of a “Committed...
Washington does not have a common law marriage. Instead, unmarried cohabitants can go to court to have their property divided under the “Committed Intimate Relationship” doctrine, often abbreviated...
View ArticleQSBS Stacking: Maximizing the Exclusion and Minimizing Capital Gains
The qualified small business stock (“QSBS”) exclusion rule under IRC § 1202 is one of the most advantageous and well-known tax breaks in the Internal Revenue Code when it comes to avoiding capital...
View ArticleExpanded Favorable Tax Treatment for Qualified Small Business Stock
Overview Start-up and small business founders, owners, and investors should be keenly aware of the 2025 amendments to IRC Section 1202, which expanded the already extremely favorable tax treatment...
View ArticleTenancy in Common Agreement – What Is It and Why You Should Consider Having One
A Tenancy in Common Agreement, commonly referred to as a TIC Agreement, is intended to provide a framework for the co-ownership of real property. If drafted appropriately, the agreement can facilitate...
View ArticleStrangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden: Lessons for Those Navigating...
Belle Burden’s memoir Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage explores the sudden unraveling of a seemingly stable long-term marriage and family life against the backdrop of the earliest days of the COVID-19...
View ArticlePowers of Attorney Gone Wrong: Using TEDRA to Address Agent Misconduct
When a loved one executes a durable power of attorney, they place extraordinary trust in the person they designate as their agent. The agent gains broad authority to manage finances, access accounts,...
View ArticleWhat Reality TV Gets Wrong About Marriage and Divorce
A number of popular reality TV shows pitch a love story that ends with an infatuated couple walking down the aisle and saying, “I do.” Love is Blind, the hit Netflix reality TV show, has resulted in 16...
View ArticleEstate Planning for Millennials
As the Millennial generation begins to enter middle age, there have been several recent articles that discuss the great wealth transfer that will be occurring in the next few years when the baby boomer...
View ArticleThe “I Love You Will” Trap: How Washington Estate Tax Can Cost Families...
It is the most natural estate plan anyone can think of. You sit down with your spouse and agree: “If I go first, you get everything. When you go, the kids split what is left.” It’s simple, it’s fair,...
View ArticleThe ERISA Preemption Defense for Service Providers
To avoid ERISA’s strict limitations in the types of relief available and other procedural hurdles, many dissatisfied employees and other plan participants attempt to obtain employee benefits by filing...
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