By Peter Dolan, Chair of ELM’s Trust and Estate Litigation Practice — How Washington Courts Resolve Ambiguous Wills, Trust Interpretation Disputes, and Beneficiary Questions Sometimes there is nothing wrong with a Will or trust itself. Nobody claims it was forged. Nobody claims the person who signed it lacked capacity. And nobody is asking a court […]
By Peter Dolan, Chair of ELM’s Trust and Estate Litigation Practice For years, your loved one said how the estate would be divided. Then, after death, a new Will suddenly appears. One person receives nearly everything. A spouse is disinherited. Longstanding beneficiaries are removed. And the person who benefits from the change may have helped […]
By Peter Dolan, Chair of ELM’s Trust and Estate Litigation Practice Rights and Remedies for Disinherited Spouses Under Washington Law You were married for years. Maybe decades. You built a life together. You planned for retirement together. You assumed that after one spouse passed away, the other would be financially secure. Then your spouse dies […]
By Peter Dolan, Chair of ELM’s Trust and Estate Litigation Practice Warning Signs of Fiduciary Misconduct Under Washington Law Your parent dies. Your sibling is named trustee or personal representative. At first, everything seems normal. Then questions start going unanswered. Financial information becomes difficult to obtain. The estate remains open month after month. Legal fees […]
Facing a Washington Committed Intimate Relationship Claim? How We Can Help Written by Peter Dolan, Chair of ELM’s Trust and Estate Litigation Practice A loved one dies. Their family expects the estate to pass according to the Will or the laws of inheritance. Then an unmarried romantic partner appears and claims a right to a […]
A Plain-English Overview for Property Owners, Buyers, and Litigants A lis pendens (Latin for “suit pending”) is a legal notice that can be recorded against real property to warn the public that the property is involved in a lawsuit. The purpose of a lis pendens is to put potential parties on notice that real property […]
Auto Insurance – Three important types of coverage You have your car or truck, but what about your insurance? Auto insurance is a common form of insurance, but sadly according to the Insurance Commissioner, it generates more complaints than any other type of insurance. This is not surprising because individuals often do not understand […]
Construction is moving again. From mega-projects like the SR99 Tunnel and the SR520 bridge to new housing projects down to the modest bathroom remodel, these improvements bring great benefits to our communities. They also carry endless possibilities for disputes through misunderstandings, mistakes or even overt misconduct. Owners and contractors in large projects work closely with […]
A team of lawyers at Ellis, Li & McKinstry PLLC has obtained a $20 million settlement for client Koti Hu of Bellevue,WA. Koti was an athletic and energetic young man. He was an extraordinarily talented and charismatic musician. Classically trained in violin and voice, he composed music, sang, and played violin and guitar in his […]
