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Chapter 13 Overview
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows individual consumers with regular income to retain their property and pay back debts over a period of time, usually three to five years. Under this chapter, the debtor and his attorney examine the debtor’s income, necessary expenses, and debts to develop a repayment...
Chapter 7 Overview
A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, often referred to as “liquidation,” is a relatively fast proceeding: debtors can usually file and obtain their discharge within several months. A trustee, appointed by the U.S. Trustee’s Office to represent the bankruptcy estate on behalf of the creditors will take control...
Powers of Attorney: You’ve Got The Power!
A power of attorney is a document that allows you ( the “Principal”) to appoint a person or organization (the “Agent”) to handle your affairs for you. Sometimes, the power of attorney can take effect immediately. Sometimes, it only takes effect if for some reason you're unavailable or unable to...
Living Wills
For those of use who have faced the hospitalization and death of a loved one, final health care decisions can be heartbreaking things. Decisions regarding life support, artificial nutrition, artificial hydration and medication can be difficult and troubling, and they hit families at the time when...
Living Trusts: Takin’ Care of Business
A living trust, also known as a revocable trust, revocable living trust, or inter vivos trust, is a popular way to own property during life and transfer it at death. The living trust generally substitutes for a will or other traditional estate planning document. With a living trust, all assets,...
Community Property Agreements
Washington has a property division contract that is available only to married couples. It is called a community property agreement, and it's commonly used to avoid probate. Here’s how it works. The community property agreement basically throws all the assets owned by the spouses - either jointly...
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way
Having a legal will is the traditional way to pass one’s property to heirs or beneficiaries. A will is a legal document that gives the decedent’s (the decedent is the one who has left us for -hopefully - a better place) directions regarding the disposition of the decedent’s property at death. A...
What is Probate?
Boy, do we get this question a lot. Probate is the process by which legal title of property is transferred from the decedent to his/her beneficiaries. As the old blues song says, “ I’ve seen bad and I’ve seen worse, but I ain’t never seen no U-Haul behind a hearse.” Since you can't take it with...
S Corporations vs. C Corporations
When starting a new business, it is almost always a good idea to choose either an S Corporation, a C Corporation, or a Limited Liability Company (LLC) as a business form, since corporations will help to limit liability when dealing with the public. For a discussion of LLCs, please refer to our...
Business Entities: Limited Liability Company
You’ve decided to start a business. Now What? If you have already made the big decision to open a business, the first legal issue you must resolve is what type of business entity you want to form. There are several different business entity forms to choose from, ranging from a simple sole...
Domestic Violence Defense Issues
A wrongful accusation of domestic violence can be one of the most traumatic things a person can face, and domestic violence charges can often be more disruptive than any other kind of charge because of the collateral consequences they usually bring to the defendant’s entire family. No matter how...
Drug Offenses
Drug-related crimes have been a primary source of criminal prosecution for decades. It is estimated that 65% of those incarcerated in the U.S. are there for drug-related crimes. Drug-crime defense is one of the primary areas with which your criminal attorney should be familiar. Discussed below are...
Help! My Old Criminal Conviction is Ruining My Life!
A criminal conviction can come with a lot of negative consequences above and beyond the fine you may be required to pay or the jail time you may be required to serve. Your criminal history may bar you from certain jobs, hinder you in obtaining housing, block you from getting into certain schools...
Everybody Out of the Pool: Ending a Marriage
There are several ways to end a marriage in Washington State. Other than using a self-help method that involves faking your death, changing your name, and hiding in the cargo hold of a freighter to Shanghai, the traditional ways to end a marriage generally are: annulment, legal separation and...
Parenting Plans 101
The toughest part of a divorce, legal separation, or paternity case is usually the effect it has on children. Washington law tries to help parents work out a plan for raising their children with a focus on the children’s best interests. The intent is to eliminate the concepts of "custody" and...
Parenting Plan Modifications
When you complete a divorce or custody proceeding, the court enters a “Final” Parenting Plan that defines the rights and responsibilities of the parties with regard to the care of and contact with the children. But a Final Parenting Plan is very often not truly final. Circumstances change,...
Proposing a Relocation
You have just decided you want to move. Perhaps your employer has asked you (or your spouse’s employer has asked him/her) to relocate, or even told that you have to relocate in order to keep your job or get a promotion. Perhaps you have recently divorced or separated and want to be closer to your...
Child Support 101
Child support payments are intended to pay for the normal and ordinary expenses of raising a child, such as housing, food, clothing, education and medical care. Washington, like most states, uses Child Support Laws and Guidelines that are set by the state legislature to determine the correct...