When someone you love has  just died, figuring out what you need to do to wrap up their financial affairs can be daunting to consider. One of the first questions may people ask is “Do I need to do a probate?”  Probate is one of the main ways to handle property after a person’s death.  Many people are scared of probate, having heard horror stories from family and friends.  But in Washington probate is not as complex or expensive as it is in many states and with the right help can usually be completed relatively quickly and without huge cost.  But probate also isn’t always needed.
 
In Washington State,  if someone leaves behind more than $100,000 in assets when they die and those assets do not already named beneficiaries through jointly held accounts, Transfer-on-Death, or Payable-On-Death structuring, then you’ll likely need a probate. Also, If the estate contains real estate it will likely need to go through probate, unless the property was held titled as “Joint Ownership with Right of Survivorship” or as community property with right of survivorship. Even if the Estate is small in value and doesn’t contain real estate, it may be beneifical to do a probate anyways.  For example, if someone had a lot of debts and it seems it would be overwhelming to deal with them all, court oversight and the official timelines provided by a probate, may be useful and that would be another reason to conduct a probate of the estate. Also, if the individual was already involved in any legal disputes or if someone else is responsible for their death, probate may be the only way to resolve those issues. 
 
Knowing the legal impact of how assets are titled and/or whether pending issues make probate necessary can be difficult to determine.  At Phinney Estate Law we recommend that everyone facing a death get legal advice to help them determine whether they need to do a probate before acting on any assumptions they may have. We offer a free ½ hour consultation for potential probate clients at Phinney Estate Law and can often provide that advice within that time. 
 
To maximize the benefits of that consultation we recommend that clients come to that meeting with the following: 

• copies of any wills, trusts, or community property agreements the deceased person created during their life
• copies of any deeds, bank statements, investment statements
• car titles you can find
• notes about any debts or other assets you know they have and unfinished business going on in their lives at their time of death. 

We recommend that you call any institutions or banks where the deceased person had accounts and ask them to tell you how those accounts were titled and if they had beneficiaries.  Often they may not be able to answer your questions, if you have not yet opened a probate and that is okay.  But knowing and much as you can, including what they won’t tell you without your opening a probate can very helpful.  We recommend you write all the information you learn down word for word and bring it with you as grief can play tricks on your memory especially if you are feeling stressed.
 
Even if probate is not necessary, you may need to do legal process, such as a small affidavit process, a trust administration, or a beneficiary claim.  A consultation can help you determine that as well. 

Regardless of what process you end up needing to complete, anyone who has a deceased person’s will has 40 days in which to file it with the court.  You don’t need to open up a probate that quickly but if you are going to do so, it makes sense to do that at the same time.  That is also generally a good deadline to set for yourself for figuring out what process you are going to go through and staring it.  To make that work you should plan on trying to set up a consultation within 30 days of the person’s death if possible.

To learn more about Probates read the next post in this series.

Phinney Estate Law's Jamie Clausen is pleased to have been appointed to the Advisory Board for the Phinney Neighborhood Association's Greenwood Disaster Relief Advisory Board along with other leaders from the community.  The Board will be advising the PNA on how to support the community from the generous donations coming in in the wake of the explosion last week.  Plans are already in place to provide grants to the residents displaced by the explosion and employees at the destroyed and gravely impacted businesses.  The board will be creating guidelines on how to provide continuing support to these groups and the affected businesses.  The need is great and we hope clients and friends will consider making a donation to the PNA to support this important work. 

When writing an Advance Health Care Directive you can include directions about how the patient wants to receive treatment and what other help and support they want at end of life.  Some examples of other directions that can be included are:

• I want my doctor to give me enough medicine to relieve my pain, even if that means that I will be drowsy or sleep more than I would otherwise.
• I want my doctor to give me enough medicine to relieve my pain, but I want my pain medication reduced frequently to allow me moments of lucidity.
• I want my Health Care Agent to explore alternative medicine treatments.
• I want to have personal care like shaving, nail clipping, hair brushing, and teeth brushing as long as they do not cause me pain or discomfort.
• I want to have people with me when possible.  The visitors that would be most meaningful to me are: __________________________________________
• I want to have my hand held and to be talked to when possible, even if I don’t seem to respond to the voice or touch of others.
• I also want to have religious readings and well-loved poems read aloud when I am near death, such as: ______________________________________
• If I am alone and awake I would like to have music or books on tape playing, such as: ____________________________________________________
• I want to have pictures of my loved ones in my room.
• I want to have flowers or live plants in my room.
• I want to have a hospice care.
• I want to be treated at home if possible.
• I want to have the members of my faith community told that I am sick and asked to pray for me and visit me.
• I want to have others by my side praying for me when possible.

Advance Health Care Directives can also include directions about organ donation, autopsies, and burial instructions.  This can be very useful as directives are often found and consulted before the Will.

Want to learn more?  Be sure to contact us for a free 1/2 hour consultation.  You can email us at [email protected] or call 206.459.1908.

When it comes to the topics of organ donation, autopsy and burial, Advance Health Care Directives are very useful, as they are often found and consulted before the Will.

It is also possible to specifically address mental health treatment in a special mental health directive.  This can be very useful for a patient who has a history of mental illness such as depression, bipolarity, OCD, or paranoia, because even a duly designated Health Care Agent cannot authorize some forms of mental health treatment unless they have specific permission in such a directive.

For clients who have already received a diagnosis of a serious chronic or terminal decision or a family history of such conditions, we recommend that they sit down with their medical provider to request their insight into what choices are most likely to be made and risks and benefits of the various options and incorporate that into their documents.

The New York Times did a wonderful article this week on complicated grief. At Phinney Estate Law we work with a lot of clients dealing with grief.  I would agree with the expert quoted in this article that a factor that can make the difference between grief where people are still able to manage their lives and complicated grief is the circumstances of death including whether there was adequate planning by the deceased about end of life care to allow that process to be conflict free and directed.  That is why we always include medical powers of attorney and advanced health care directives in our all of our planning and encourage clients to see this as part of the legacy they leave their family.  If you would like more information on how to create this kind of planning, please contact us for a free 1/2 consultation at (206) 459-1908 or [email protected].

An Advanced Health Care Directive is a document that we recommend all clients complete. This is a guide for a patient’s agent(s) and doctors regarding what health care choices the patient would like to make if they can’t speak for themselves. 

While doctors are not required to follow a directive, if they are unwilling to, they must make every reasonable effort to transfer the patient to a doctor who is willing to obey the instructions.

The statute recommends that directives include information about whether the patient would want resuscitation and/or artificial food or hydration if they were either terminally ill or in a permanent unconscious condition. In our experience these directives are more useful if they provide more guidance to doctors and families. 

When working with clients who are not currently facing a terminal diagnosis, we ask them to consider various scenarios and decide what treatment philosophies they would want to guide their doctor and agent in making decisions about their care.  

Questions?  We can help.  Contact us by email or call 206.459.1908 for more information.

A beneficiary is a named recipient of a gift. 

The beneficiary designation is the document that names a beneficiary of a contract such as an annuity, life insurance policy, or retirement account.  Beneficiaries can also be designated in a person's Last Will and Testament or in a Trust.

This is quite different than the more traditional heir...

Historically, heirs are the class of persons entitled to take or share, in whole or in part, any real property of an intestate decedent, now generally broadened to include all the property of an intestate decedent who hasn't named beneficiaries.

Instead having to abide by a document, heirs receive inheritance.  For probate purposes, inheritance is receipt of property from an intestate decedent, by right of succession rather than by will.  


For community property characterization or estate tax purposes, inheritance is receipt of property simply as a result of death.


Beneficiaries and heirs are not always the same people and do not necessarily have the same rights or receive their property in the same way.  


To learn more about how to make sure those you want to inherit at your death receive what you would like, contact us to schedule a free 1/2 hour consultation at [email protected]