Comprehensive planning. Complete protection. No gaps. No guesswork.
If you’ve been thinking about estate planning but haven’t taken action yet, here’s something you need to know: you already have a plan in place.
The question is, did you create it? Or are you letting state law and the courts provide you with the “default”?
Most people don’t understand the “default” rules. If you become incapacitated without the right documents in place, a judge must appoint someone to make medical and financial decisions for you. Family members with equal “priority” may fight over who makes those decisions.
If you die without a will or trust in place, state “intestacy” laws dictate what happens to everything you own, and a judge appoints someone to administer your estate. Again, family members with equal “priority” to administer your estate may fight over that appointment, just at a time when death, grief, and money can easily cloud anyone’s judgment.
State law “default” planning is nearly never what any client chooses once they are informed.
Why burden your children with avoidable court proceedings during life or at death? Why leave critical choices to be made during the most distressing time in your loved ones’ lives?
Preserve what you worked so hard for, and make sure your wishes are documented properly, in a manner the law recognizes.
Because if you don’t make these decisions now, someone else will make them later, and they almost certainly won’t all be the decisions you would have made.
Our firm practices exclusively in strategic estate planning and administration. We help many of our clients resolve complex estates and, for example, avoid estate taxes after one of two spouses' deaths. Firms that practice across several legal disciplines have not spent thousands of hours doing one thing: protecting families' legacies. Our specialization means we see patterns others miss and know strategies others don't.
What makes us different?
Many firms jump straight to drafting documents after collecting basic information. We spend significant time upfront understanding your assets, your family dynamics, and your goals. Only then do we design your plan. You're not buying just documents from us. You're buying strategic thinking and advice.
Estate planning doesn't end when you sign your documents. We provide extensive post-signing support to make sure your assets are properly titled, your beneficiary designations are updated, and your plan evolves as your life changes. If you wish, we'll be there to administer your estate when the time comes, even though we don't advertise for non-client probate work.
Our written work product is thorough, precise, and built to withstand scrutiny. We implement "plain English" legal documents. We don't cut corners. We don't use templates that don't fit your situation. You're paying for quality and experience. We take the time needed and guide you at each step.
You pay us for advice, not documents. The documents are just the tools we use to implement the strategy.
Comprehensive wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives tailored to protect your family and your legacy.
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We help families solve complex estate problems when a plan fails, an administration stalls, or urgent tax and fiduciary issues arise.
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Guiding families through the process of settling an estate, clearly, efficiently, and with compassion during a difficult time.
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So what does all this strategic planning actually solve for you?
Most of our clients want to make the administration of their estate as simple as possible for their loved ones.
They do not want their loved ones to drown in complex probate court paperwork.
Even if they have heard that Washington and Idaho probate is “easier” than California or Oregon probate, which is true, they know that does not change the fact that probate is still a public court proceeding requiring strict adherence to certain processes and timelines that may be irrelevant to their situation.
They do not want their loved ones’ inheritance lost to a sudden divorce, lawsuit, disability, or Medicaid.
Most are surprised to learn that inheritances “vest” legally soon after death, exposing the value of the “vested inheritance” to the kinds of claims listed above, even before the affected beneficiary receives the inheritance.
Strategic estate planning solves for the following:
Without a proper plan in place, the default plan every person has under state law controls everything. This is why estate planning is for everyone, regardless the size of their estate.
Ready for a Strategy to Protect You and Your Loved Ones?
We don’t rush you through a one-size-fits-all process. Estate planning is too important for that. Here’s how it works:
We sit down and understand your complete picture. Your real estate. Your business. Your retirement accounts. Your family dynamics. We discuss your goals, your concerns, and what you want to accomplish to figure out exactly what Estate Plan you need.
Now we design your plan. Maybe you need a revocable living trust. Maybe irrevocable trusts for tax planning. Maybe special needs planning for a disabled child. Whatever your situation requires, we design it. Then we present the strategy to you and explain exactly how each piece works and why it’s there.
Once you approve the strategy, we prepare your documents, precisely drafted to match your plan. Before your signing, we walk you through every provision so you understand exactly what you’re signing and why it matters.
We meet for your signing ceremony and begin the funding process, retitling assets into your trust, updating beneficiary designations, and making sure your plan is actually implemented. Most firms stop here. We don’t.
After your plan is signed, we provide extensive support to make sure everything is properly funded. We’re available as your life changes, you buy a new property, sell your business, have grandchildren. We’ll be there to update your plan and eventually administer your estate when your family needs us.
We're based in Clarkston, Washington, on the border of Lewiston, Idaho, at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers and the entryway to Hells Canyon, the deepest river gorge in North America, a destination tourist location for travellers from all over the world.
Being licensed in both states means we readily help families with assets across two or more states. A home in Clarkston and rental property in Lewiston. A business in Pullman and a cabin in McCall or a second home in Sandpoint. We have helped many families fix prior planning that unnecessarily exposed Idaho property to Washington estate tax. We strategize to help clients maneuver lifetime income tax in one state that has no death tax (Idaho) and ever-increasing death tax in the other state that (for now) has no lifetime income tax (Washington). Our clients have properties in Oregon (with both taxes), California (with high income taxes), Arizona (similar to Idaho), and tens of other states. Or oil or mineral interests in Oklahoma or the Dakotas. We've seen it all! Poor planning can easily cost families hundreds of thousands of dollars in surprise taxes. We strategize to help clients maneuver lifetime income tax in one state that has no death tax (Idaho) and ever-increasing death tax in the other state that (for now) has no lifetime income tax (Washington).
See All Areas We ServeBev Williams
“McKarcher Law took the time to understand our complicated family situation and designed a plan that actually works for us. Josh and Mary answered every question we had, and we had a lot of them.”
Tracy B.
“Josh and his legal team were instrumental in helping me navigate a complex and emotional situation. Their expertise, diligence and compassion made a huge difference for my family.”
Tali C.
“If quality has a name in the legal profession, it would be the McKarcher Law Firm. Josh McKarcher and Mary Paulus worked hard to understand my overall situation and then crafted a comprehensive estate plan that will serve me well into the future.”
Client
“We put this off for years because we thought it would be overwhelming. McKarcher Law made the process clear, straightforward, and honestly easier than we expected.”
Steve W.
“Josh McKarcher worked with us to establish our family trust. He was attentive, listening carefully to the particulars of our family dynamics and our legacy desires for our children and grandchildren. We strongly commend McKarcher Law to anyone engaged in estate planning.”
Tom B.
“I am so grateful for Josh and the legal team at McKarcher Law. They are also exceptional with periodic follow up, checking if our circumstances are stable or if life changes require an adjustment in our trust plans. Highly recommend their services to everyone and anyone — planning your estate is something everyone needs to do!!”
Estate planning isn't just for the ultra-wealthy. If you own a home, have children, run a business, or care about what happens to the people and things you love, you need a plan.
We work with:
Who want to protect their children and avoid probate court.
Who need succession planning and asset protection.
With rental properties and complex portfolios.
Navigating second marriages and inheritance concerns.
Focused on tax planning and preserving wealth for the next generation.
With estates subject to Washington or federal estate tax.
Who require specialized trust planning.
If you've worked hard to build something worth protecting, we can help you preserve it.
Ready to get started?
(509) 758-3345Estate planning does not have to mean an elaborate set of complex documents.
To date, two of our clients have an intentional plan to die "intestate" with no will or trust. But that is based on a clear strategy that makes sense for them and focuses instead on solid lifetime powers of attorney, for example. Every client is unique, but every client needs a plan
Consider this:
Without a trust, your property goes through probate. A "small estate affidavit" will not work. The popular "transfer on death deed" to avoid probate often surprises Washington beneficiaries with a two-year restriction on sale because creditor claims are not cutoff until two years after death.
Without guardianship designations, the court decides who raises your kids if something happens to you and your spouse. Would you trust a judge to make that decision?
Without at least basic planning, your business may fail and have its assets frozen for lack of control or a fight over control. It could easily lose significant value in the weeks or months it takes to course-correct through intestacy administration.
Without proper planning, your spouse might not have immediate access to accounts, or may inadvertently use or retitle accounts they later wish they could have "disclaimed" to avoid significant estate tax. Initiating work with a lawyer only after the first spouse's death is extremely trying, requiring "expensive" decision making during the worst time of one's life.
These aren’t hypothetical scenarios. This is what happens every single day to families who thought “We’ll get to it eventually.” The time to plan isn’t when something happens. It’s now, While you can still make the decisions.
Get Answers to Your Specific Questions
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(509) 758-3345
Our firm practices narrowly and deeply in estate planning and estate administration, and are unable to take on cases for new clients involving litigation or other specialties. We do, however, intend to be our existing clients’ first point of contact for any legal matter, so that they can benefit from our deep network of lawyers across the country across disciplines. And, when we are ethically able to do so, we try to provide most any caller with a referral to other firms in the region who handle their kind of matter if we do not.
Yes! There is absolutely no loss in quality of outcome from meeting via video calls from the privacy of your home or office via Microsoft Teams (or Zoom or Google Meet).
Indeed, reviewing documents, financial statements, and other “papers” has proved much easier at times via screenshare than across a conference table.
For signing documents, you can be anywhere in the world and we can “remote online notarize” any document for use in the United States, including electronically signing your Washington or Idaho will and have it witnessed and self-proven no differently than a paper will signed with ink.
Click here to read more about our adoption of legal tech that is improving and securing estate planning for clients who wish to use such technologies.
Our firm focuses on advanced estate planning and strategic estate administration. Neither is driven by standard forms and repetitive routines.
Our pricing reflects our expertise and experience in our specialty area of practice. We do not charge hourly fees, however, and do nearly all our work on flat fees, ordinarily in the thousands of dollars, consistent with several factors outlined in lawyers’ rules of ethics relating to fees. We expect that we will never be the cheapest option available, but we will unlikely be the most expensive.
We address fees in considerable detail in our client terms and conditions, which we encourage you to review before proceeding with our firm.
