In 2016, Washington State legislators introduced the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act to ease access to a deceased person’s digital assets. What sort of digital assets might you want to give access to? Some online accounts are crucial to...
What should you include in your will’s first draft?
When you’re getting ready to write a will, there might be many things that you want to include. Since this is your first draft, now is the time to get down all your thoughts and feelings, so you can work with your attorney to put together a will that fully describes...
Can you stop people from challenging your last will?
You may have strong feelings about who you would like to receive what assets from your estate when you die. Especially if you have close relationships with loved ones or worry about providing for your children, you may have invested a lot of effort into carefully...
What are common grounds people use to challenge a last will?
Creating a last will is usually a way for someone to take control over the legacy they leave, protect the people they love and theoretically avoid the costs involved with probate court proceedings. However, an estate challenge by family members or beneficiaries could...
What tax requirements are part of the Washington probate process?
Serving of the executor or administrator of someone else's estate typically means needing to micromanage financial transactions and the distribution of assets to their family members and loved ones, all while maintaining meticulous records. In certain circumstances,...
What can be learned from the Stuart Scott probate case?
Stuart Scott, the former ESPN announcer, died of cancer in early 2015. Ever since his death, his daughters, co-trustees, ex-wife and Disney have all been fighting about his estate. The probate process has been going on for nearly five years now, and there is concern...
Electronic wills — the good and the bad
Living in a digital world, moving from paper to electronic documents seems to be a natural progression. There are times when doing so, however, may not sit quite right with some people. Electronic wills are a good example here, and there are those in Washington and...
Washington probate: What does an executor do?
Anyone who has been chosen to close out a loved one's estate may feel overwhelmed at the task. Being an executor is not an easy job, especially if it is something one has never done before. This week, this column will discuss the role of the executor in the state of...
Washington probate: Where to keep estate planning documents
Estate planning is not something that everyone does. It is something most know they should do, but they just never get around to it. Washington residents who do take the time to get it done may not be sure where they should keep their estate planning documents. At the...
Washington probate: Don’t put off what can be done today
Some things in life are easy to keep putting off. They may not seem essential, or they may be things that you want to avoid doing. Estate planning is one of those things that most adults in Washington, and the United States in general, put off until it is too late....
