We truly believe in counsel-based estate planning
We believe that each client should receive individualized service and establish an estate plan which is tailored to his/her own wishes and goals. We truly believe in counsel-based estate planning, not form book-based estate planning.
For example, a couple who has been married for many years will have a different estate plan than a second marriage couple with children from the previous marriages. High net worth families will need special strategies in their plans to minimize estate, gift, income and generation skipping taxes. A taxable estate with illiquid assets will establish an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) so that the personal representative of the estate would not have to sell the assets in a short amount of time for unreasonably low values just because estate taxes have to be paid within a 9-month period (or a 15-month period with an extension). Also, clients who are engaged in a high risk business may want to establish an Asset Protection Trust in another state in which a self-settled trust is accorded with creditor protection because Washington does not accord asset protection for a self settled trust while the trust maker is alive.
