Bellevue Estate Planning Attorney – Do You Need a Will or Trust Prepared in the Bellevue, Washington Area?
Estate planning arranges for the disposal or distribution of your estate in the event of your death. This can involve preparing a will to carry out your dictates at death or setting up trusts to provide for children. It also concerns providing for another to take over for you if you become incapacitated. Skillful estate planning also seeks to minimize the tax consequences that your estate may be subject to after your death. If you need legal assistance with any estate planning matter, we urge you to contact the Bellevue estate planning lawyer at the Mehling Law Firm as soon as possible.
Estate Planning
A will is the document in which a person sets out how he wishes his property to be disposed of upon his death. On the other hand, a trust puts property into the hands of a trustee to be held for the benefit of beneficiaries. These documents must be precisely written to be valid and to achieve their purposes with no room for argument over interpretation. Cristina Mehling can help you make an informed decision about the use of various estate planning tools and can prepare the documents necessary to ensure that your estate plan is legally valid and binding.
Wills
A will must be executed in writing and be witnessed to be valid. It is vital that it be clear and take into account all matters that are relevant and pertinent to the estate. For example, all children must be mentioned whether they are to receive anything or not and all significant property noted. Failures to do so can lead to conflict and litigation among relatives and unpleasant consequences you never intended.
Trusts
Trusts are usually set up to provide for relatives when you are no longer around to manage your assets and personal affairs. It is often wise to set up a living trust in which your current assets are held in trust with yourself as the trustee and your spouse or children as secondary trustees. This provides for a smooth transition in case of your incapacity or death with the secondary trustee immediately taking over and doing your business without having to wait for a probate court to appoint an executor to administer the estate.
Consult with a Bellevue Estate Planning Lawyer
The Mehling Law Firm is a small, intimate firm dedicated to providing amiable and competent legal service for your wills and trusts. We will prepare your estate planning documents to carry out your intentions while being mindful of legal requirements and tax considerations. Please contact the firm for a consultation about your estate planning needs today.
Need legal assistance with estate planning? Contact the Bellevue Estate Planning Attorneyat our firm to learn about estate planning tools and documents today!
Probate
At the Mehling Law Firm we help executors and administrators settle estates. We assist them with all transactions needed to carry out the wishes of the deceased, whether the decedent left a will or not.
Formal Probate Proceedings
Probate is the process which establishes the validity of a will, resolves all claims against the estate, and triggers the administration of the testator’s estate pursuant to the provisions of the will. After the testator of a will dies, the will must be probated in probate court. Even if no will exists a probate must be opened if the estate includes real property. To initiate probating a will, the will must be filed with the court in the jurisdiction where the deceased testator lived (in any county of the jurisdiction, i.e. WA). The filing party must also submit a petition to obtain the court’s approval and admission of the will to probate. Once the probate court determines the testamentary documentation to be valid and resolves any claims against the estate, the executor/personal representative (or “administrator” if no executor is named in the will-an appointee of the court) then carries out the directions of the will.
A decedent’s estate may consist of “probate” assets, “nonprobate” assets, or a mixture of both. Probate assets “pass through” the decedent’s Will (i.e. the Will controls its disposition). If there is no Will (or alternative to a Will, such as a Revocable Living Trust), disposition of this property is controlled by the descent and distribution statutes. “Nonprobate” assets pass upon the owner’s death to one or more persons pursuant to a written instrument or contractual arrangement other than a person’s Will. For example, life insurance proceeds, annuities and IRAs payable directly to third parties after the owner’s death are common nonprobate assets.
Simplified Proceedings Available
If a decedent dies with very little property, or made alternative arrangements for the nonprobate transfer of most assets, formal probate proceedings may not be necessary. For example, if a decedent owned no real estate and total probate assets are $100,000 or less, this property may be transferred by a Small Estate Affidavit Procedure. Even if no formal probate proceedings are instituted, a spouse, domestic partner, or child of a decedent may have the right to file a Petition for Award of Family Support and arrangements may be made for the Settlement of Creditors Claims without Probate.
Other issues that may crop up include Will Contests, a Petition for Award of Family Support, and claims asserted against the estate by an Omitted Child, Spouse, or Domestic Partner of the decedent. If disputes and conflicts arise in the course of settling an estate, Cristina Mehling will resolve the dispute through mediation or arbitration, as required by TEDRA (Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act). Because a significant portion of our legal practice involves estate planning and drafting wills and trusts, we have the knowledge needed to probate a will effectively-as a result of preparing the instruments, we know the entire process thoroughly.