Estate Planning, Trusts & Probate

Regardless of the size of your estate, developing a plan that will transfer property at death may be crucial to your family’s long-term financial security. 

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson offers broad experience in estate planning services. Our attorneys have advanced degrees in tax and business administration or CPA certification. We are skilled at working closely with individuals and families to deliver cost-effective services—from developing estate plans and administering estates and trusts, to advising personal representatives and trustees concerning probate, and conducting post-mortem tax and financial planning. 

Clients come to us for the full range of estate planning needs: 

  • Basic Estate Planning—Create wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney, health care directives (living wills), and other related estate planning documents. 
  • Estate Planning Strategies—Develop sophisticated plans to help reduce federal gift and estate taxes as well as Washington estate taxes, including life insurance trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, family limited liability companies and grantor retained annuity trusts. 
  • Business Succession Planning—Help individuals and families plan for the transition of private and closely-held business interests.
  • Tax Planning—Support arrangements for charitable giving, charitable trusts and private foundations, as well as asset protection and retirement planning. 

Our estate planning team regularly collaborates to produce the best solutions for our clients, drawing on our knowledge and experience to address complex or challenging matters. Where appropriate, we also work with lawyers from our other practice areas, such as tax planning with our federal tax attorneys, joint efforts with the corporate group in business succession matters, and co-counseling in contested probate matters with members of our litigation group.

We work extensively in probate and trusts. Our estate planning attorneys can help you manage and protect the assets of an estate, determine the validity of and pay creditor’s claims, resolve disputes among beneficiaries, and conduct proper after-death tax planning. 

In addition, our estate litigation department has represented clients concerning will disputes, breaches of fiduciary duty in trusts and in probate, and abuses by holders of powers of attorney. We have obtained verdicts or settlements of more than $8 million. Our goal is to provide compassionate and efficient service at a difficult time.  

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