Blog

This Tuesday, Governor Jay Inslee signed a law that will allow Washington residents to compost their remains, adding a third option to our choices of what we want to have happen with our remains after we die. This process, known as "recomposition" or "human...

Our first child’s name is Maverick. He is 105 pounds, very hairy, very anxious, and loves to run around after a ball. Even at age 9. “Mavpants”, as we call him, is our German Shepherd and he’s been such an important part of our lives since we adopted him from an...

Tonight, I re-watched “The Descendants”, one of my very favorite movies. It came out in 2011 and stars George Clooney and Shailene Woodley. In 2011, I didn’t have kids and got to see movies in the theater. I saw this one in the theaters twice. George plays Matt King,...

This last week has been an exciting one for residents of Western Washington as we experienced “Snowmageddon 2019.” The snow has been quite impressive – we got 10 inches at our house Friday night/Saturday morning. Everything here slows down when it snows and there is a...

This Thanksgiving, we’re going to Palm Springs for a week to visit family. To fly our family of four from Seattle to Palm Springs costs $3,500. That’s insane, right? I get that Thanksgiving is the busiest travel time of the year and everyone wants to go to Palm...

Lately, I’ve noticed a lot of people coming into my office who are committed, long-term partners but have decided not to get married for whatever reason. I find it refreshing . . . if something is working, don’t over-formalize it. However, these types of relationships...

This last week, my four-year-old son started his second year of preschool, played in his first outdoor soccer game, started playing flag football, and said “actually, mom . . .” to correct something I said. (He was, in fact, correct.) In the same amount of time, my...

The beloved songstress, Aretha Franklin, died on August 16, 2018, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, further solidifying my deep hatred of pancreatic cancer. Who doesn’t have a dozen memories surrounding Aretha’s massive hits like “Respect” or “Natural Woman”...

The other day, I took my kids out to get teriyaki and we all got fortune cookies, which is - clearly - the best part of the meal. My 2 year old daughter crunched open her cookie and gave me the fortune to read to her. I about spit my water out it made me laugh so...

The Fourth of July is always a fun celebration, particularly when the country could use a little levity. To celebrate the fantastic experiment that is America, I did a little research into the history of the estate tax and how it got to where it is today. Like most...

Today is Father’s Day, which is a particularly poignant day for me and my brothers, who lost our dad in February of this year. We celebrated his life in a beautiful memorial last weekend and it was everything I wanted it to be and more. We were so lucky to have had...

A few years before she died, my Nana started sending me things from her home in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I had a few reactions: one, “I’ve always loved this jewelry box/necklace/__ . . . how sweet” and two, “this is really depressing.” It’s pretty common for elderly folks...

A living trust is an alternative to a Will and is used when probate should be avoided. Some basics about a living trust: You need to put all of your assets into the living trust, including your real estate, bank accounts, cars, furniture, etc.You are the trustor...

A lot of people come into my office with questions about the gift tax. It’s a weird one – you have to pay tax on gifts you give people? Really? That seems dumb. Like any tax, the gift tax has a long history and, like a handful of taxes, was created during the Great...

I'm going to talk about sad things in this blog, like dying before your kids are 18 years old. Just to forewarn you. However, it's a really important part of my job and should be something you think about if you have kids under the age of 18. None of us know when...