Columbia Tower Seattle Columbia Tower Seattle

Estate Planning & Trusts

Overview

As family relationships and generational wealth become increasingly more complicated to manage, Karr Tuttle Campbell’s Trusts and Estates Department is here to help guide our clients by applying personalized strategies to each unique situation. We strive to provide our clients with the highest quality of estate planning and administration services on a cost-effective basis.

We counsel our clients on every aspect of estate planning, from preparing essential estate planning documents, such as wills, revocable living trusts, and powers of attorney, to developing and implementing advanced estate planning and wealth transfer plans, which may include qualified residence trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, life insurance trusts, private foundations or charitable trusts, and family holding companies. We also advise and assist fiduciaries in administering probate estates and trusts, including gift and estate tax matters with the Internal Revenue Service. And, although no one’s first choice is litigation, when a trust or estate dispute does arise, we vigorously advocate for our clients.

Many of our clients are families that have been with us for decades, even through multiple generations. We consider it our honor and privilege to work with these families—large and small, new and old—of the Pacific Northwest. Throughout the years we have earned their trust, and we hope to earn yours too. We offer services in the following areas:

Essential Estate Planning

    • Wills
    • Revocable living trusts
    • Durable powers of attorney
    • Health-care directives and proxies
    • Directives for the disposition of remains

Probate and Trust Settlement and Administration

    • Representation of Personal Representatives
    • Representation of Trustees of revocable and irrevocable trusts
    • Representation of beneficiaries of estates and trusts
    • Internal Revenue Service matters

Advanced Planning Techniques

    • Irrevocable life insurance trusts
    • Grantor retained annuity trusts
    • Qualified personal residence trusts
    • Special-needs trusts
    • Gifting trusts

Gift, Estate, and Generation-Skipping Transfer Taxation

    • Advice and planning to minimize taxation

Family Business and Succession Planning

    • Transfer of control to key employees or family members
    • Transfer of wealth to next generation
    • Planning to minimize taxes on sale or transfer

Family Capital Management Planning

    • Multigenerational planning, using family limited-liability companies (LLCs) or family-run corporations integrated with family trusts and gifting strategies

Income Tax Services and Return Preparation

    • Personal
    • Fiduciary
    • Partnership
    • Corporate
    • Charitable

Charitable Planning

    • Charitable remainder and lead trusts
    • Donor-directed funding
    • Private family foundations (formation and administration)
    • Nonprofit corporations
    • Public charities

Trusts and Estates Disputes

    • Trust and probate litigation
    • Will contests 

Planning for Retirement

    • The planned use of life insurance, disability insurance, and long-term care insurance
    • Retirement benefits and maximization of positive tax treatment

Domestic Partnership Agreements and Representation

Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements

Leaders in the community, Karr Tuttle Campbell estate planning lawyers include trustees and board members of local bar associations and the American College of Trusts and Estates Council. Practice group members frequently speak for professional organizations and make presentations to county and state bar associations. We have testified as expert witnesses and served as mediators in estate disputes and have assisted the court as special masters with particular cases.

Our attorneys give back to our community through involvement in charitable and philanthropic organizations representative of our area of practice.

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