Seattle Wills Attorney

Your Seattle Estate Planning Lawyer

 

      Experienced
   Compassionate
 Concerned

 

 Estate Planning
   Probate
     Mediation

 

Serving the greater Seattle area
for wills and trusts from the heart of Ballard! 
1734 N.W. Market Street
P. O. Box 17790, Seattle, WA 98127-1300
Telephone 206.784.9000

Seattle Wills and Trusts Lawyer

Welcome!   

     Welcome, and thank you for visiting our website! This Seattle law firm focuses on wills, trusts, probate, and mediation.  We hope the information you find here is useful to you. Of course, it is just the beginning. The fact that you are visiting this website means you have questions and concerns. We hope to merit your trust and confidence, and we invite you to contact us. If you're a new visitor, we look forward to meeting you and exploring ways we can assist you and your family or business. If you're a current client, thank you for allowing us the opportunity to fulfill your legal needs.

    This website was designed with you in mind. The site offers us an additional way to provide helpful information that will allow our clients to make more informed decisions - to provide peace of mind while planning to meet the challenges in an ever-changing world. We genuinely hope that you will discover more about our estate planning practice in Seattle and learn about useful information that will answer questions you might have about various legal issues.

   

Planning Tip of the Month:

 

MAKE GIFTS!  If the total value of your individual estate is more than $2,000,000 you can reduce your exposure to state and federal estate taxes by making gifts.  A gift of $12,000 for each individual recipient can be made without incurring any gift tax, but must be done by December 31.  In 2009 this annual gifting limit rises to $13,000.  In 2009 the estate tax threshold remains at $2,000,000 for Washington state tax, but increases to $3,500,000 for the federal estate tax.

 

GIFT STRATEGY FOR ASSETS:  If you are thinking of giving away an asset that has lost value and is now worth less than the tax basis, you and your intended recipient may be better off if you simply sold the property at a loss and gave the cash to the recipient.  You may be able to claim a loss on your income taxes and your recipient won’t be saddled with an asset with a low basis, i.e., a basis pegged on the current lower fair market value.

 

To comply with the U.S. Treasury regulations, we must inform you that (i) any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this website was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by any person for the purpose of avoiding U.S. federal tax penalties that may be imposed on such person and (ii) each taxpayer should seek advice from their tax advisor based on the taxpayer's particular circumstances.

Heather Van Nuys is a Wills and Trusts attorney in Seattle.

     We invite you to browse through our website, and encourage you to bookmark it as one of your favorite resources on the Web. We would be honored if you would forward the site to your friends and family.

    We would also like to hear from you, so please contact us via telephone or email with any questions, comments, or concerns that you might have and to schedule an appointment. We would like the opportunity to serve you.

We help you plan your future legacy while focusing on your current needs.  We foster your values and relationships while protecting your legal rights.  Please contact us to schedule a private consultation for your estate plan.  We are located in Seattle in the heart of Ballard.  Let us be your Seattle Wills and Trusts attorney.

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The Van Nuys Law Office PLLC -- your Seattle Wills and Trusts lawyer -- is conveniently located in the heart of Ballard!