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Elise Buie Family Law’s experienced Kent estate planning attorneys help families create comprehensive estate plans, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and digital asset protection, to secure their legacy and protect their loved ones’ future.

Key Takeaways:

  • Estate planning is essential for all Kent families, not just the wealthy, as it protects children through guardianship designations, ensures asset distribution according to your wishes, and avoids lengthy probate processes.
  • Comprehensive estate plans include wills, living trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and beneficiary designations that work together to provide complete protection for modern families and their digital assets.
  • Washington state has no estate tax for most families, but experienced estate planning attorneys can structure plans to minimize federal taxes while maximizing inheritance for beneficiaries through strategic charitable giving and trust structures.

In Kent, where families balance busy careers with little league games and community events, thinking about wills and trusts might feel like something you can put off until “someday.” Between work deadlines, school pickups, and weekend soccer tournaments, estate planning often gets pushed to the bottom of an endless to-do list. But here’s the thing about tomorrow—it has a way of arriving whether we’re ready or not.

If something unexpected happened to you today, would your family know how to access your accounts? Would they understand your wishes for your children’s care? Could they keep your business running without missing a beat? These aren’t comfortable questions, but they’re important ones. At Elise Buie Family Law, our Kent estate planning attorneys help busy families create plans that protect what they’ve worked so hard to build, without adding stress to their already full lives.

With over 50 years of combined experience, we’ve learned that the best estate plans are practical roadmaps that give families clarity and confidence when they need it most. Contact our compassionate team today to schedule your consultation and discover how empowering protecting your legacy can be.

The Building Blocks: What Every Kent Estate Plan Should Include

Think of your estate plan like a toolkit in which each document serves a specific purpose, and together they create comprehensive protection for your family’s future. Our Kent estate planning attorneys help you understand what you actually need based on your unique personal and financial situation. 

  • Your will forms the foundation, spelling out who inherits your assets and, crucially, who would care for your minor children if needed. While you should choose someone you trust inherently, there are more factors to consider, like who aligns with your parenting philosophy, who understands your children’s needs, and who has the support necessary to take on this responsibility. 
  • Trusts are another essential piece, as they offer additional benefits that many Kent families find valuable. A living trust can help your loved ones avoid probate entirely, meaning faster access to assets when they need them most. For business owners, trusts can provide continuity and tax advantages. For families with complex assets or special needs considerations, trusts offer flexibility that wills simply can’t provide.
  • Powers of attorney handle situations where you’re alive but unable to make decisions for yourself. These documents let you choose who manages your finances and healthcare decisions if you’re temporarily or permanently incapacitated. For busy professionals and business owners, having trusted people ready to step in can mean the difference between temporary disruption and permanent damage to everything you’ve built.
  • Healthcare directives outline your preferences for medical treatment, ensuring your wishes are honored when you can’t communicate them yourself and giving your family clear guidance during emotionally challenging times.
  • Beneficiary designations are usually attached to insurance policies and retirement accounts but are frequently forgotten or seen as less important than other estate planning components. However, they directly determine who receives those assets, regardless of what your will says, making them crucial and regular updates essential.

Modern Families Need Modern Estate Planning

Today’s Kent families have digital lives that traditional estate planning often overlooks. Your family photos might be stored in the cloud, your business could operate entirely online, and your retirement savings might include cryptocurrency alongside traditional investments. Our Kent estate planning attorneys understand that protecting modern families means planning for all your assets, not just the ones that exist on paper.

We help you create secure systems for managing digital assets and passwords so your loved ones can access what they need without legal battles or technical nightmares. We also address modern family structures—like blended families, unmarried partners, and chosen family relationships—that don’t fit traditional estate planning templates.

For Kent’s many entrepreneurs and business owners, we provide succession planning that ensures your company can continue serving customers and supporting employees even if you can’t. This might involve buy-sell agreements with business partners, key person insurance, or leadership development plans that protect both your business legacy and your family’s financial security.

Tax Planning That Actually Makes Sense

While Washington doesn’t impose state estate taxes on most families, federal taxes and other considerations still matter, especially for business owners and professionals with significant assets. Our approach to tax planning focuses on strategies that make sense for your situation, not complex schemes that create more problems than they solve.

We help you structure your estate to minimize unnecessary taxes while maximizing what goes to your loved ones. This might involve charitable giving strategies that support causes you care about while providing tax benefits, or trust structures that protect assets while maintaining flexibility for your family’s changing needs.

Secure Your Legacy Today with Our Seasoned Kent Estate Planning Attorneys

Estate planning isn’t a one-time event—it’s an ongoing relationship that evolves as your family grows and changes. Our Kent estate planning attorneys build lasting partnerships with our clients, providing updates as laws change and life circumstances shift.

We’ve designed our process to fit busy schedules and real family dynamics. Our devoted hospitality coordinator ensures that every detail is handled with care, from initial consultation through document signing and beyond. We know your time is valuable, so we make the process efficient without cutting corners on quality or thoroughness.

The families we serve in Kent aren’t looking for the cheapest option or the most complex legal strategies—they want practical solutions from attorneys who understand their priorities and respect their values. They want to know that if something happens to them, their children will be cared for by people they trust, their assets will go to the people they choose, and their family will have one less thing to worry about during an already difficult time.

Your family depends on you today, and they’ll depend on your wisdom to protect them tomorrow. Don’t let another day pass without taking this important step. Contact our team today to schedule your consultation and discover how proper planning can secure your family’s future.

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