Bellevue Estate Planning Lawyer

Trusted Bellevue estate planning lawyers with over 10 years of experience.

If you need a Bellevue, WA estate planning lawyer to draft a will, set up a trust, plan around estate tax, or handle a probate matter, our firm can help. Robert Franco founded Eastside Estate Planning over a decade ago and focuses his practice on estate planning and probate. We operate on a flat-fee model so clients see what their plan costs before any drafting begins, with no surprise invoices and no clock running on phone calls. Contact us to talk through your situation and figure out what your plan needs to cover.

Estate Planning Lawyer Bellevue, WA

An estate plan is a coordinated group of documents that direct what happens to your property, your minor children, and your medical care if you can't make those decisions yourself. For most Bellevue residents, a complete plan includes a will, a power of attorney, a health care directive, and one or more trusts depending on what you own and who you're providing for.

Estate planning isn't only for retirees or the wealthy. Washington's estate tax kicks in at a much lower threshold than the federal one, and Bellevue real estate values alone are enough to pull many families over that line. A Bellevue estate planning attorney can reduce or eliminate that tax exposure, keep your estate out of probate where possible, and put documents in place that hold up when they're tested. When there's no plan, Washington's intestacy statutes step in to decide who inherits and in what shares. Those default outcomes rarely line up with what someone would have actually chosen for their family.

Types of Estate Planning Cases We Handle in Bellevue

Estate planning covers a range of services, and most clients need more than one document. Below are the matters we regularly handle for Bellevue families.

• Wills. Your will controls who inherits your property and who raises your minor children if both parents pass. We draft wills that meet Washington's witness and signing requirements so they hold up if anyone challenges them later.
• Trusts. A trust can hold your assets during life and pass them outside of probate at death. We draft revocable and irrevocable trusts depending on your goals, family structure, and whether asset protection or tax planning is the priority.
• Living Trusts. A revocable living trust keeps your estate private, avoids probate, and lets you stage distributions to beneficiaries over time. These work well for parents of young children, blended families, and people with property in more than one state.
• Special Needs Trusts. A family member receiving Medicaid, SSI, or other government benefits can lose eligibility from a direct inheritance. We draft special needs trusts that hold the inheritance for their benefit without disrupting the care they rely on.
• Powers of Attorney. A durable power of attorney lets someone you trust handle your financial and legal matters if you can't act for yourself. We draft documents that go beyond the standard form to cover gifting authority, trust management, and digital accounts.
• Health Care Directives. A health care directive records your wishes for medical care when you can't speak for yourself. It removes guesswork from the hardest moments and gives family members clarity.
• Estate Tax Planning. Washington's estate tax catches many couples who never expected to owe it. Married couples have planning techniques that use both spouses' exemptions, but those structures have to be in place before the first death.
• Tax Planning. Broader tax planning, including capital gains and gifting strategy, often overlaps with estate planning. Robert's LL.M. in Tax Law informs how the firm approaches these decisions for Bellevue clients.
• Trust Administration. When someone dies with a trust in place, the successor trustee has work to do. We advise trustees on their fiduciary duties, asset distributions, and the tax filings that follow.
• Probate. Some estates can't avoid probate. When it's required, we represent personal representatives in King County Superior Court from the opening petition through final distribution.

Why Choose Eastside Estate Planning for Estate Planning in Bellevue, WA?

A Tax-Focused Approach to Estate Planning

Robert Franco has practiced estate planning law for more than 10 years. He earned his J.D. from Lewis and Clark Law School in 2013 and went on to complete an LL.M. in Tax Law at the University of Washington in 2018. The LL.M. is a graduate-level legal degree, and very few estate planning attorneys hold one. It matters in this state because so much of estate planning work in Washington turns on the state estate tax and related tax issues, and a tax background informs every plan we put together.

Robert is admitted in Washington and serves on the Tax Section of the Washington State Bar Association. He's also a member of the Cardozo Society of Washington State. Our firm tracks changes in Washington tax law, which the state has revisited in recent legislative sessions, so the plans we draft reflect where the law actually is today rather than where it was a few years back.

Flat-Fee, Transparent Pricing

Hourly billing makes clients hesitant to ask questions and creates uncertainty about what the final invoice will look like. We don't operate that way. Our flat-fee model sets the price before drafting begins, and our pricing is published openly so you can see it before reaching out. There's no second invoice at the end, no hourly charges for follow-up calls, and no reason to hesitate when something needs to be discussed.

Understanding Estate Planning Cases

Key Estate Planning Documents and What They Do

A complete plan generally relies on the same handful of documents, each handling a specific job. The problems we see most often when families come to us after a death trace back to missing or inconsistent pieces.

• Last will and testament. Directs distribution of probate assets and names guardians for minor children.
• Revocable living trust. Holds assets during your life, avoids probate at death, and lets you stage out inheritances rather than handing them over at once.
• Durable power of attorney. Names a financial agent if you lose capacity.
• Health care directive. Records your wishes for medical care and end-of-life decisions.
• HIPAA authorization. Gives named individuals access to your medical records.
• Beneficiary designations. Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by designation rather than by will, and have to be aligned with the rest of the plan.

Important Aspects in Your Estate Planning Case

The size of an estate matters less than people expect when designing a plan. Family structure and the nature of the assets drive most decisions. Two Bellevue clients with similar net worth can end up with very different documents.

• Whether you own real estate in more than one state
• Whether you have children from a prior relationship or a blended family
• Whether anyone in the family has special needs or capacity concerns
• Where your estate falls relative to Washington's estate tax threshold
• Whether you own a business, rental property, or other complex assets
• How you want children's or grandchildren's inheritances structured

Estate Planning Case Timeline

The process tends to move faster than clients expect once decisions are made. From the first meeting to signed documents typically runs a few weeks. Larger or more complicated estates take longer, but the sequence remains the same.

• Initial consultation to identify goals and family circumstances
• Review of assets, account titling, and beneficiary designations
• Drafting based on the plan we agree on
• Review meeting to walk through every document
• Signing appointment with required witnesses and a notary
• Funding instructions for any trust, including retitling assets

What to Bring to Your Estate Planning Consultation

You don't need to prepare an elaborate file for the first meeting. A few items help the conversation move productively.

• A general list of your assets and approximate values
• Current beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and insurance policies
• Any existing estate planning documents, even older ones
• Names of people you might appoint as executor, trustee, or guardian
• Specific questions or family concerns you want addressed

The consultation typically runs about an hour. By the end, you'll have a clear picture of what your plan should contain and what it costs. Plans drafted years ago often need updating after major events such as a marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, the death of a beneficiary, a business sale, or a significant change in assets. We review existing documents during a consultation and tell you whether revisions are warranted. There's no expectation of a same-day decision, and we want clients to take time with these choices.

Washington Legal Resources for Estate Planning

Bellevue residents who want to do their own research have several reliable starting points. These don't replace working with an attorney, but they help answer general questions about how Washington handles estates, probate, and the documents that make up a plan.

• The Washington State Legislature publishes the Revised Code of Washington, where state statutes are searchable.
• The Washington Courts self-help center has general information for people working through legal matters without representation.
• The Washington Department of Revenue maintains a page on the state estate tax.
• The IRS estate tax overview covers the federal framework that runs alongside the state tax.
• The Washington State Bar Association offers public legal resources and a lawyer referral service.

Reach Out to Eastside Estate Planning to Schedule a Consultation

We offer free initial consultations and flat-fee pricing on estate planning matters. The first meeting covers your family, your assets, and what you want your plan to accomplish. You leave with a clear picture of cost and next steps. Contact us to schedule a time.