Wills, Trusts & Estates

Change is inevitable. I help families create estate plans to manage change gracefully and confidently.

• Charitable Giving
• Drafting Trusts
• Drafting Wills
• Estate Administration
• Estate Planning
• Living Trusts
• Living Wills
• Probate
• Power of Attorney
• Revocable Trust & Irrevocable Trust

WA, Jun 2004
Bar Number: 35143

Washington State

Washington State Bar Association
King County Bar Association
American Bar Association

Domestic Partnership Act: I have attended multiple trainings in Washington's new and evolving domestic partnership act, including the tax consequences of the new legislation, to better assist clients in making informed decisions about registering as domestic partners.

Collaborative Law: Clients often struggle to manage conflict and intense emotions when grappling with loss in the context of a legal dispute. These trainings expand my ability to guide clients through emotionally difficult legal disputes while preserving valued relationships.

Relationship/Property/Prenuptial Agreements: For a variety of reasons, clients do not always want the default rules applied to their families in the event of death or divorce. I have specialized training to assist clients in thoughtfully defining the legal consequences of their intimate relationships. This is often particularly helpful to same-sex couples and blended families.

Special Needs Trusts: This is a technically demanding area of the law, where expertise is useful to allow clients to make the best use of available resources when providing for dependents or other family members with special needs.

Estates and Trusts: I attend many general trainings each year to keep abreast of recent developments in the law, to identify legal issues, to effectively draft documents, and generally fulfill my commitment to provide excellent service.

I worked with a client who was gravely ill. She wished for her estate to be distributed in a way that varied markedly from the way the state would have distributed it if she had not voiced a preference. I worked closely with her and her family, meeting in the hospital and in hospice. I drafted documents that carried out her wishes, including benefiting family members and charities. Her family retained me to probate her estate after her death.
One member of a happily committed same-sex couple came to me concerned about whether or not to register as domestic partners. We resolved this by drafting a relationship agreement that met their goals of defining their legal relationship and appropriately handling their property.

I prepared an estate plan for a young couple with children. Their primary concern was providing for their children in the event they both died while the children were small. I drafted wills that included a children's trust to pay for the education of two of the children, and a supplementary trust for one child with special needs.

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Washington

I guide clients through complex legal issues with compassion and respect. When people make use of estate planning tools to take charge of their affairs, they benefit themselves and their loved ones. I believe in the value of articulating desires rather than waiting for the state to step in. The state neither understands the complexities of an individual's situation, nor does it have the flexibility to create a carefully tailored solution. While this applies to everyone, non-traditional families can be particularly vulnerable, and I enjoy working with non-traditional families to avoid future conflict and ensure as much as possible that their wishes will be carried out. I also assist clients in probate disputes to resolve their disputes in a way that is as gentle as possible on the parties. Given appropriate support, most people can resolve conflict and create lasting and satisfying agreements.

I studied in France during college, and worked there for a while after graduation. I returned to the states and earned a Master's in Teaching English as a Second Language. I was fascinated with the interplay of language and power in schools, and decided that I wanted to work on the political end of second language education. I went to law school with the expectation of becoming a civil rights attorney; while there I found my calling and emerged a trusts and estates lawyer.

I worked for the Seattle Office of the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, and for a small Seattle firm before opening my doors.

Board Member, King County Collaborative Law
Chair, King County Collaborative Law Civil Practice Group
Vice Co-Chair, King County Bar Association Collaborative Law Section
Volunteer, King County Bar Association Kinship Care Solutions Project
Volunteer, King County Bar Association Family Law Mentor Program
Volunteer, Wills for Heroes

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(206) 299-4114

Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

No

French

I offer fixed fees that can range from $400 to $4000, depending on the complexity of the document.

My hourly fee is $200.

I do not do free initial consults; however, payments for initial consults are applied toward flat fee estate plan work.

We don't have retainers in Washington, we have advance fee deposits, and I let people know at the end of the initial consult what the charge will be. Estate plans for a married couple begin at $850, including wills, powers of attorney for health care and finances, living wills and dispositions of remains, if there is no tax planning and no trusts.