Contact — Washington

Michael Holmes is licensed to practice law in Washington. Call the Washington line below, or send a message and the office will get back to you. Most matters are handled remotely by phone, video and secure document exchange, which means clients across Washington are served without anyone driving across the state for a signature.

Washington Phone and Email

What Is Different About Washington

Washington is a community property state with a device the other five do not have: the community property agreement. Executed properly it can convert separate property to community property and pass an entire estate to the surviving spouse without probate. It is elegant, and it is also blunt — it does nothing for the second death, nothing for a blended family, and it can quietly undo a carefully built plan if it is signed and then forgotten about.

Washington also levies its own estate tax, and the threshold at which it applies sits far below the federal exemption. Families who are comfortably clear of federal estate tax are routinely exposed to the Washington one, and frequently do not discover it until a return is due. Planning in Washington usually means looking at the state number first and the federal number second, which is the reverse of how most people arrive at the conversation.

What to Have Ready

None of this is required before you call — if you have only half of it, call anyway. It simply makes the first conversation more useful.

  • A sentence or two on what has happened, or what you are trying to arrange.
  • Where any real property sits — county and state for each parcel, because the state the land is in controls how it transfers.
  • Roughly what is involved: a home, retirement accounts, a business interest, life insurance, firearms, property in more than one state.
  • Any documents that already exist — a will, a trust, a deed, an operating agreement, a prior marital agreement — even if they are years out of date.
  • Who else is in the picture: a spouse, children from an earlier marriage, business partners, or the parent whose care is the reason for the call.
  • Whether anything is on a clock: a closing date, a court date, a probate deadline, a tax filing.

What We Handle in Washington

Family law work outside Idaho is limited to prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.

How the First Conversation Works

The first call is a conversation, not an intake form. You describe the situation; I tell you whether it is something Holmes Law handles in Washington, what the work would involve and roughly what it would cost. If what you actually need is a Washington litigator, an accountant or a title company rather than an estate planning attorney, I will say so on that call rather than after you have paid a retainer. Engagement terms are put in writing before any work begins.

Schedule a Consultation

Tell us briefly what you are dealing with and the best way to reach you. There is no charge for the initial conversation.

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