Services Offered

Please read this page carefully before you sign up. If your estate is larger or more complicated than the scope of the Clinic permits, you will not be able to participate in the Clinic and will be directed to seek advice from a private estate planning attorney outside of the Clinic.

We offer a full set of basic estate planning documents, which includes Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney, and Health Care Directives for eligible first responders, and, if applicable, their spouse or state-registered domestic partner. 

The Clinic offers Wills that make gifts to spouses or state-registered registered domestic partners and to children (outright or in a simple trust depending on their ages), as well as gifts of assets outright to other individuals or charities. Participants also receive durable powers of attorney to name people to make healthcare and property decisions when needed. And, participants receive healthcare directives to state their end-of-life decisions, if desired.

We estimate the value of our services as approximately $3,000 per Participant and spouse or state-registered domestic partner.

There are several situations where we cannot assist you through the Clinic:

1. You are not a resident of Washington state.
2. You are married or in a state-registered domestic partnership and wish to disinherit your spouse or domestic partner.
3. You are married or in a state-registered domestic partnership and wish to name someone other than your spouse or domestic partner as the first-named executor or Agent for property decisions. Naming a different person first as Agent for healthcare decisions is permitted for Clinic participation.
4. You are married or in a state-registered domestic partnership and have a premarital, prenuptial, or postnuptial agreement.

There are other eligibility requirements and limitations on the scope of our services.

Limitations on Services

Our services are offered pro bono, which means there is no cost to participants. Our attorneys are all volunteers, from many different legal backgrounds. Our legal services begin and end during the Clinic. There is no further or ongoing representation provided after you receive your final documents. To enable us to offer this free service, the Clinic scope is limited in two ways: by the size of the estate, and by the nature of the planning.

First, we do not handle large estates.
For purposes of this Clinic, a "large estate" means an estate valued at over $1,000,000 for a single participant, or $2,000,000 for a married couple or registered domestic partners. We include the following assets in the value of your estate for Clinic purposes: cash, banking accounts, personal property, stocks, bonds, real estate, life insurance (excluding term life insurance), inheritances, and retirement assets (such as 401(k), 403(b), IRA, etc.).
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Second, we do not handle complicated planning issues.
We rely on volunteer attorneys to handle simple planning needs at our Clinic. The issues listed below require more complicated planning and advice from an attorney who has experience in estate planning law specifically. If your estate involves these issues, or you are interested in the following planning options, we can still assist you with your basic planning, however we will not be able to assist with these needs. It will be important that you seek specialized advice from private counsel to address them and revise the documents you receive at the Clinic, as necessary. 

Here are a list of some topics and concerns that are outside of the Clinic's scope and will not be addressed in your plans:

1. Revocable living trusts.
2. Gifting to a spouse or domestic partner in any manner other than outright (e.g., in trust, life estate, etc.)
3. Effects of pending divorce proceedings.
4. Income, gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax issues.
5. Special needs trusts.
6. Charitable trusts.
7. Issues related to citizenship or immigration.
8. Assets managed by a fiduciary located outside of the United States.
9. Assets held outside of Washington state or the United States.
10. Short-term or long-term care planning.
11. Gun trusts and other specialty trusts.
12. Any litigation matter.

Others circumstances not listed may make your situation more complex than our Clinic is able to serve. If, during the course of the Clinic meeting, we determine that your circumstances require representation beyond the scope of the Clinic, we will let you know and may be unable to complete all or part of your estate planning at the Clinic.

If you are interested in being a Will Clinic participant, please check for our next Clinic date and learn how to sign up.