Maureen E. Ray
Attorney at Law
Honesty, Integrity & Compassion
Estate Planning
Keep Your Fees Low And Your Plan Simple
In estate planning, conventional wisdom is to design a plan that, as much as possible, avoids the probate court’s involvement. However, in Washington, this goal may not be as necessary as in other states.
This is because, in Washington, the two main reasons for wanting to avoid probate (that probate can be slow and costly) do not necessarily apply. In Washington probate courts, processing times and costs are among the lowest in the country.
If you still want to minimize the court’s involvement, however, you may want to retitle bank accounts so that they are owned jointly with right of survivorship or retitle real property with a transfer-on-death deed. Property that passes to designated beneficiaries, such as life insurance, also avoids probate.
For other properties, the revocable trust has historically been seen as a valuable tool to attain the goal of avoiding probate. However, trust documents can be costly to prepare, and tedious to maintain over time.
A better fit for some clients is often a Community Property Agreement (CPA). Where a married couple or registered domestic partnership agrees that when one of them dies, all of that person’s property will pass directly to the other, entering into a CPA will avoid probate as effectively as a revocable trust and without the fuss and bother.
This kind of agreement works well for many couples, but it’s not right for everyone. Use a community property agreement only if you want all of your property to go to your spouse or partner; have no out-of-state real property; want to keep estate planning fees low; and simplify your planning. Also, a CPA is not ideal where one spouse is in a nursing home and has qualified for Medicaid.
It is nice to pair a community property agreement with a basic will. A will lets you name an executor, nominate guardians for your minor children, and provide a backup plan in case you and your spouse die simultaneously. In your wills, you and your spouse should each leave all of your property to each other, and then name alternates who will take the property in the unlikely event that you both die at the same time. If there are any inconsistencies between your will and your CPA, your CPA will control.
It is also a good idea to make a directive to physicians, healthcare power of attorney, and durable power of attorney. A directive to physicians lays out your wishes for medical treatment in case you cannot speak for yourself. And using a healthcare power of attorney, you can name a person to make healthcare decisions for you if you can’t.
A durable power of attorney lets you name someone who will take care of your finances if you can no longer do it yourself. With the durable power of attorney, you can also give the person you name the power to change or revoke your CPA. This could be very important if you or your spouse become incapacitated.
Please note that this is not legal or tax advice. You should consult with an attorney knowledgeable about estate planning and a tax adviser prior to finalizing your estate plans.
Planning is essential for the mindful distribution of your assets and reducing delay, expenses and taxes.
Without a Will, your assets are given to your next of kin with no regard for how you would prefer to have them allocated. Having a Will allows you to not only designate the persons you want to handle asset administration, but to provide instructions for how things should be distributed, for example outright or over time.
If you have need of estate planning or probate services, contact Maureen today at 360-930-0637 to arrange your free consultation, or complete the following contact form here.