Washington State’s Governor Inslee just signed a new bill that raised the cost of recording fees for the purpose of funding additional recourses for eviction prevention and housing stability services throughout the state. Although the price varies depending on the type of document, the recording fee was typically $103.50 for the first page of a [..]
Lawmakers in Washington State have just passed a major update to the Washington State bankruptcy homestead exemption. Bankruptcy exemptions allow you to protect some or all of your property from creditors in a bankruptcy. There are exemptions available for all types of assets, from cars, to bank accounts, to household goods and furniture, but the [..]
The Washington State eviction moratorium is set to expire at 11:59 pm on June 30th, 2021. With over 160,000 reported Washington households who have fallen behind on rent since the moratorium was originally put into place last March, many are anticipating a wave of eviction cases in the near future. In preparation for the influx [..]
Can you disinherit your lawfully-wedded spouse? It’s complicated. Washington State is a community property state. That means is that without specific planning (such as a prenuptial agreement) when a couple marries, most property acquired during the marriage becomes property of the marital community. This ‘community property’ is subject to special inheritance requirements. Under Washington State [..]
Under Washington State law, your descendants (aka your children) are considered your heirs, but your heirs do not have to be your descendants. If you die without a will, Washington law requires your assets to be given to certain members of your family, if they are alive at the time of your death. Generally speaking [..]
Whether you are living with long-term roommates, a romantic life partner or multiple generations of your family, rapidly accelerating real estate prices in our area have led to a massive interest in ‘co-buying’ or buying real estate with other people. Anyone who lives in Washington State knows that the housing market has been subject to [..]
The universe of options for alternatives to traditional cremation or burial for ways to create final resting place for your Earthly remains is constantly expanding. Some of the newer options for disposition of human remains focus on finding more environmentally-friendly ways to go, besides traditional cremation or burial Washington State has recently legalized a new [..]
Washington State’s Governor Inslee has just announced another extension to the Washington statewide eviction moratorium, this time extending the order until the end of March 2021. The moratorium on residential eviction actions in Washington State was set to expire on December 31, 2020 prior to the extension granted by the Governor. While final details of [..]
Unlike most of your personal belongings, your ownership interest in a small business is not easily addressed through basic estate planning, and special attention should be paid to how you would like your business handled if anything should happen to you, as the owner. If you own a sole proprietorship, your business and your personal [..]
Did you know that Washington State recently became the ninth state to allow for online, remote notarization of legal documents? Originally, the online remote notarization authorization was meant to take effect in October 2020, but Washington State’s governor put the new law into effect early, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting increased need for [..]