Why Would You Need a Seattle Real Estate Property Attorney

Attorneys are not only experts in defending cases in the court. They can also manage specific issues like real estate properties. Real estate attorneys are very much beneficial to hire because they can do so many things for you. Why would you need a Seattle real estate property attorney? Find out how the attorney specialists can help you with your real estate transactions.

When you are selling a real estate property, attorneys can help you with several things. First, they care capable of handling matters that involve property titles. There are cases wherein property titles would have erroneous information and would need the help of an attorney to fix them. These cases are of high legal nature that needs a professional management. A real estate property attorney can make things go smoothly through the process. 

Attorneys can also help you in reviewing purchase and sale agreements. What the attorneys specifically do is make fair and amenable procedures for both parties involved in a real estate transaction. They make negotiations that would benefit not only one party but both of the involved. Attorneys are also kind to include insurance processes in their services. This makes everything easier for you. You don’t have to personally do the procedure. The attorney can do everything professionally for you.

When you are buying a property in the real estate industry, an attorney can also help you with it. Especially if you are a first time buyer, your attorney will help you understand the processes involved. Your attorney will lay out the details that are needed for purchase contracts. They are also experts in managing property title settlements.

Before you actually buy a certain property, the attorney will make sure that the property is clean and the owner has no outstanding balances to settle. The professional can also help you out with looking into the taxes and other costs that may be involved in the property. It would take scrutiny when you are dealing with real estate processes, especially when you are buying. A real estate property attorney can make everything run fast while assuring you of a clean and excellent deal.

All the legal documents related to a real estate property can be managed properly by the attorney. They always make sure that you get clean registration and ownership title after a deal is made. Depending on the services that you want your attorney to handle, you can let them manage the transactions primarily. You can choose to do the majority of the procedures during the process. However, it would take your time and effort if you are not well educated with the things in real estate.

When you look for a Seattle real estate property attorney, make sure that they are located locally. In that way, you would not have to contact them from remote locations. You need to be in touch with them anytime you are in need of legal help. The best thing you can get out of your transactions is that you are assured that all transactions will be done fairly.

Services Offered by Last Will and Testament Attorney in Seattle

With all the different types of attorneys working in Seattle, what does a Last will and testament specialist does? When you see lawyers in your place, the first thing that you would probably think of is seeing them in a court and defending cases for their clients. What you don’t know is that there is so much more they can do other than that. So, what specific services are being offered by last will & testament Attorney in Seattle? What advantages can you get if you hire one?

Primarily, last will and testament attorneys are specialists focusing on legal documents that are related to fixing properties that are left after an individual dies. The issues that are related to last will and testaments could be really complicated for some. However, an attorney who specializes in the field can make everything easier for you.

Attorneys in the field can help you even from the start. Even if you are only planning about making a will, an attorney can give you advices about how things could go. They are experts when it comes to division and sharing of properties. It would just be right that you get suggestions from them. Although you don’t have to follow what they would want to recommend, at least, you can get legal ideas from them and make things easy for you.

Of course, it does not end in planning alone. Drafting a will could be a more complicated matter than when you are only planning for a will to be realized. You can change your mind as many times as you can and make it a valid document when you think everything is done. It takes some serious time to push through everything but a Seattle last will and testament attorney can help you go through the process with ease.

The biggest part that an attorney can do is when you are going to make the will valid. It would require a legal process and an attorney can expertly do the procedures with and for you. To validate the document, the owner should work with the lawyer in putting every personal property in place.

Whether you own large properties or very small ones, what matters is for everything to be put in the right places. Your attorney can help you out with that. Although you can do everything yourself from the planning of the will up to the time that you are making it valid, you will be doing yourself a favor if an attorney works for you.

It is every person’s right and responsibility to create a will and it is fortunately protected by law. You would leave your families without too many complexities in life because you have prepared well for them. You will truly be appreciated if you do it and any last will & testament attorney in Seattle will only be your tool to put everything in place. With the help of these professionals, you will be able to live the rest of your days with peace in your mind.

Not Doing The Proper Estate Planning Left A Real Mess For Partner

Philip Seymour Hoffman pictured in January 2006 with his Golden Globe Award for his performance in "Capote."Bloomberg News

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman may have left his partner and mother of his three children with a multimillion-dollar tax bill.

Such are the findings of estate planning experts who've had a chance to peruse the late actor's will, which was signed on Oct. 7, 2004 in New York — more than nine years before his death. Though the will doesn't outright state the size of Mr. Hoffman's estate, news reports citing CelebrityNetWorth.com are pegging that number at about $35 million. He was found dead Feb. 2 in his Manhattan apartment.

Mr. Hoffman and his partner Marianne O'Donnell were not married, but the actor left his estate to her directly. The couple had three children together.

Per the will, if Ms. O'Donnell renounces or disclaims any portion of the inheritance, that amount will go to a trust fund that's held in the name of his son and eldest child, Cooper Hoffman, who was only a year old when Mr. Hoffman signed the will.(Seen this before? Gandolfini's estate may get whacked with $30 million tax bill)

Mr. Hoffman and Ms. O'Donnell had two daughters in the years after the will was drafted, one in 2006 and the other in 2008. The document does not account for them.

Though wills are public documents and trusts aren't, it is possible that Mr. Hoffman may have set up trusts since he had signed the will and transferred assets to them to reduce the estate.

But based on public documents, experts agree certain provisions could've been added to the will to better protect the estate from taxes.

“He should've left the assets in trust to Ms. O'Donnell instead of outright because by leaving them to her outright, it'll get taxed at his death and again at her death,” said Steven J. Oshins, an estate planning attorney at Oshins & Associates. “You never want to leave assets outright to someone who is on the same generational level as you.”

A trust would also protect the inheritance from creditors and pass the assets over to descendants after the survivor's death.

A continuing trust established for Mr. Hoffman's children would have also been a better alternative to setting up only one trust for Cooper, Mr. Oshins noted. The trust for Mr. Hoffman's son can be decanted in order to change the terms. “The trust for Cooper pays out half of the money at 25 and the remainder at age 30,” he said. “In a continuing trust, it wouldn't be subject to Cooper's creditors and any divorcing spouses.”

As far as Mr. Hoffman's children, Ronni Davidowitz, head of Katten Muchin's New York trusts and estates practice, noted that the estate should have had language that did not specifically name the one and only child that the couple had at the time. There was no language to consider future children. “The key thing here is the failure to provide for the after-born children,” Ms. Davidowitz said.

Failure to account for future children could potentially lead to a disinheritance if the language of the will doesn't count them. Different states have property rules that consider pretermitted children — those who were born after the will is executed — when deciding what they can inherit under the will.

“There isn't anything that covers pretermitted children in New York,” said Ms. Davidowitz. “The lesson here is to be a little more open when there is a chance that you'll have more children, and when you have life events: children, marriage or a divorce, make sure you update your documents,” said Barry C. Picker, an accountant at Picker & Auerbach CPAs P.C.

Had Mr. Hoffman married Ms. O'Donnell, experts agree that would have brought other benefits to the estate.

“You wouldn't want to get married just for estate planning purposes, but if they were, he could pass the estate to her free of estate taxes,” said Charles Douglas, a financial planner and editor of the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils' Journal of Estate & Tax Planning.

For calculation's sake, if the estate were valued at $35 million, it would qualify for the $5.34 million estate tax exemption. About $30 million would then be taxable at the federal rate of 40%, which adds up to about $12 million in federal estate taxes.

Were they married, Ms. O'Donnell could take advantage of the marital deduction, which would permit the assets to be transferred to her with little to no estate tax. A couple that's legally married also has a combined estate tax exemption of $10.68 million, as opposed to the $5.34 million for singles.

The one thing that is certain now is that Ms. O'Donnell likely has a lot of estate planning work ahead of her to contend with the inheritance. Mr. Oshins suggested forgoing the use of Mr. Hoffman's estate tax exemption, as the inheritance is passing sideways to his partner and not the kids. Ms. O'Donnell can then “make a big gift into a better-drafted multigenerational trust for all three of the kids,” he said.

“As the sole surviving parent, Ms. O'Donnell should have a better will in place if she doesn't have anything that protects all the kids,” said Ms. Davidowitz. “She should minimally get her own house in order.”

http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20140220/FREE/140229994