When Nothing Is in Writing, Someone Else Decides
Your accounts, your property, your business interests…
Without a plan in place, none of it goes where you intend. State law fills the gap. That is not a worst-case scenario. It is the default outcome for every estate that has no documented plan.
Most people are aware this needs to be handled. Most people have not handled it.
At Maris, we work with individuals, couples, and business owners across Everett, Mukilteo, Marysville, and Snohomish County to get estate planning done while the decisions still belong to them.
Estate Planning Is Not a One-Document Task
A will is a start. It is rarely enough.
A complete plan covers asset transfers, decision-making authority, business interests, and whether your beneficiary designations actually match the rest of your financial picture. Any gaps in that picture get resolved by courts. Not by you. Not by your family.
Estate planning for married couples has to account for sequence. Assets held in one name, a surviving spouse in a different tax bracket, and a financial picture that looks nothing like what the couple built together. These are common situations, and they require planning in advance.
Our estate planning services cover:
- Asset transfer coordination across accounts, real estate, and business interests
- Beneficiary review and alignment
- Gifting strategies, including donor-advised funds during high-income years
- Trust planning and administration oversight
- Estate tax planning and gift tax return preparation
- Business succession coordination
- Fiduciary tax return preparation
- Coordination with estate attorneys on legal documentation
We do not draft legal documents. We provide the financial and tax advisory layer that determines what those documents should accomplish, then work alongside the attorneys who execute them.
Address the Tax Exposure While the Options Are Open
Federal estate tax exemptions sit at $15 million per individual as of this writing. That number has changed before and is scheduled to change again. Inheritance tax planning is not only a concern for large estates. It applies to anyone with appreciated assets, business interests, or property held in the wrong structure.
Roth conversions, gifting strategy, and entity structure can all reduce the tax exposure your estate carries. Those decisions are made years before they matter. Waiting until the documents feel urgent means many of the tax-efficient options have already closed.
An Estate Planning CPA Produces Different Results
An estate attorney drafts the documents. A financial advisor manages the investments. Neither of them is looking at the full tax picture.
Working with an estate planning CPA means the gifting decisions, the Roth conversion timing, the business interest valuation, and the beneficiary structure are all reviewed against your actual tax situation. Not in isolation. Together. That coordination is where most estate plans leave money behind, and it is the specific work that legal tools and single-discipline advisors are not built to do.
structure
coordination
Roth strategy
Business Interests Need a Longer Planning Horizon
A business is often the largest asset a client owns. How it transfers to a family member, a partner, or a buyer carries tax consequences that follow the transaction for years.
Estate planning for business owners involves succession timing, entity structure, and the relationship between business value and estate exposure. The earlier these decisions get made, the more options remain open. A business transition already in motion leaves very little room to restructure.
One Less Thing Unresolved
Most people find that getting this done is simpler than the years spent postponing it. The plan moves on its own once it starts. What changes is that the decisions are yours to make, not defaults the state assigned.
If you have been waiting for the right time, reach out to Maris CPA and we will show you where things stand and what a plan for your situation actually looks like.