Notes on Washington Law
17 articles · general information, not legal advice
Buying and Selling Property in Washington: What You Are Actually Signing
You signed a purchase and sale agreement eleven days ago, the inspection came back with a page and a half of problems, and your agent says the response deadline is tomorrow. Or you…
7 min readHow to Read a Title Report in Washington: Schedule B Is the Whole Document
Escrow emailed you a forty-page PDF called a Preliminary Commitment for Title Insurance, your agent said it looks clean, and your contract gives you a few days to object to anythin…
8 min readAdverse Possession in Washington: Ten Years, Five Elements, and Why Mowing Is Not Enough
Your neighbor's fence has been eight feet onto your lot since before you bought the place, and he has just told you the strip is his because he has maintained it for fifteen years.…
8 min readEasements and Boundary Disputes in Washington: Scope Is the Real Fight
The gravel road to your house crosses the neighbor's field, and the neighbor has just put a gate across it. Or you hold a recorded easement and the neighbor is running a utility li…
8 min readDividing and Developing Land in Washington: Which Process You Are Actually In
You own five acres outside town and want to carve off a piece for your daughter. Or you have a corner lot and a contractor who says you can put two small units behind the house. Or…
8 min readLand Use Permits and Appeals in Washington: Why the Deadline Decides Most Cases
A notice appears on a pole at the edge of the lot behind your house, describing something you have to read three times to understand. Or you are on the other side of it, a year and…
7 min readDo You Need a Will or a Trust in Washington?
You have been meaning to deal with this for three years. Somebody at work mentioned a living trust, and now you are not sure whether the will you signed in 2011 is worth anything o…
8 min readProbate in Washington: What Actually Happens After a Parent Dies
Your mother died eleven days ago. There is a will somewhere, a house with a mortgage, a bank that will not talk to you, and a sibling who has opinions. Somebody told you probate ta…
8 min readWill Contests, Trustee Disputes, and TEDRA in Washington
Your father signed a new will fourteen months before he died. It leaves most of what he had to the person who was driving him to appointments, and it was drafted by a lawyer nobody…
8 min readForming a Washington LLC, and the Operating Agreement That Actually Governs It
Two people go into business together. One has money, the other has the trade and the customer list, and they agree to split things fairly. The LLC gets filed online in twenty minut…
7 min readWashington Liquor Licenses and LCB Compliance: The Rules That Catch Owners Off Guard
You have a purchase and sale agreement for a neighborhood bar, a closing date, and a price allocation with a line item for the liquor license. Or you run a brewery, and a restauran…
8 min readAlcohol Litigation and the Commerce Clause: Three Cases I Am Working On
A brewery in Washington can sell a keg to a bar across the street. The same brewery, shipping that keg across a state line, runs into a wall of rules that exist for one reason: it…
7 min readSection 1983 Claims in Washington: Civil Rights Lawsuits Against Government
An officer put you on the ground during a traffic stop and you still cannot lift your arm over your head. A city council voted on a permit in a meeting nobody was told about. You a…
7 min readWashington's Law Against Discrimination: What It Covers That Federal Law Does Not
You were told your position was eliminated three weeks after you asked about medical leave. Or a supervisor has been making comments for most of a year, you reported it, and now yo…
7 min readCan My Lawyer Use AI? What It Does, What It Cannot Do, and What to Ask
You read that a lawyer somewhere got in trouble for filing a brief citing cases that did not exist, and now you are wondering whether the person handling your matter is doing the s…
7 min readAI Governance for Law Firms: What to Write Down, What to Buy, and What to Build
Most firms I talk to are somewhere in the same place. Someone is already using a chatbot, nobody has written anything down, a vendor has been in touch about a platform that costs m…
6 min readHave a question these do not answer?
These articles are general information about Washington law. They are not legal advice and reading them does not make you a client.
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