FOR HOMEOWNERS
Homeownership and Estate Planning
Your home is one of your greatest assets. Estate planning can help protect it for generations to come.
What is estate planning?
Estate planning helps you prepare for the future by deciding how your assets, including your home, will be managed during your lifetime and passed on after your death. It allows you to designate trusted individuals to make financial or healthcare decisions on your behalf if you’re unable to do so. Depending on your circumstances, thoughtful planning may also help reduce taxes, avoid unnecessary costs or delays, and make it easier for your loved ones to carry out your wishes.
Planning for the future starts with having the right tools and information. Gain a better understanding of estate planning tools that help ensure your wishes are honored, and your loved ones are cared for.
Key Documents for Protecting Your Assets
Once you become a homeowner, it's important to consider how your home and other assets will be managed and transferred in the future.
Will
- Specifies who inherits your property and belongings after your death.
- Can help reduce confusion and stress for loved ones.
- If you die without a will, state law determines how your assets are distributed.
Living Trust
- Allows you to hold and manage property during your lifetime.
- May help your beneficiaries avoid probate.
- Provides greater control over how and when your home and other assets are transferred.
- Can offer additional protections for minor children and loved ones with special needs.
Power of Attorney (POA)
- Authorizes a trusted person to make financial decisions and act on your behalf if you’re unable to do so.
- Can help ensure bills, mortgage payments, property taxes, and other financial obligations continue to be managed during a period of illness or incapacity.
- May help your family avoid delays and additional legal proceedings when important decisions need to be made.
Legal help may be available:
Creating an estate plan is not one–size fits all; speaking with an attorney can help you create a plan that best fits your needs.
Find a lawyer for free or low-cost support:
Have a plan in place
- Name someone to manage your finances and healthcare decisions.
- Document your wishes clearly so loved ones aren’t left guessing.
- Review and update your plan and or beneficiaries when life changes occur or at any time deemed necessary.
- Check your estate plan and talk through it with an estate planning attorney. You may have existing documents in place that allow you to address any issues that may arise in the event of your death or incapacity. If you don’t have an estate plan in place, now is a great time to work on developing one.
Want to learn more?
American Financial Solutions offers a FREE, virtual Estate Planning and Heirs Property course that is designed to walk you through the basics of estate planning in a clear, practical way. Click below to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
Click on each question to learn more.
- Will – Determine how your property will be distributed.
- Trust – Provide additional protection and help avoid probate.
- Power of Attorney – Choose someone to make financial decisions if needed.
- Healthcare Directive – Document your medical wishes in advance.
- Protect your family's future
- Decide who receives your assets
- Minimize stress for loved ones
- Avoid unnecessary legal complications
- Ensure your healthcare wishes are respected
A common misconception is that estate planning is only for retirees or people with substantial wealth. Every adult, regardless of age or income, can benefit from having a basic estate plan. For young adults, estate planning is less about the size of an estate and more about maintaining control over important personal, financial, and healthcare decisions.
Estate planning is often misunderstood as a tool for preserving wealth, when in fact its primary purpose is ensuring that a person’s wishes are carried out and that others can act on their behalf if necessary. Anyone with family, property, savings, or healthcare wishes can benefit.
- American Financial Solutions - offers a free, virtual Estate Planning and Heirs Property Course
- Washington Law Help Life Planning Guide
- Estate Planning Council of Seattle hosts a directory of local attorneys, trust officers, and financial planners.
- WA State Courts If you're interested in planning for incapacity or caring for a loved one, the Washington Courts website offers information on: adult guardianship, conservatorships, minor guardianship, court forms, and educational materials. This is particularly helpful for families planning for aging parents or individuals with disabilities.
- WA State Office of the Attorney General - The Attorney General's office provides information about: Healthcare Directives, Living Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care, End-of-life decision making
Heirs’ property is real estate that passes from one generation to the next without a will or other estate plan, leaving ownership shared among multiple family members as tenants in common. Instead of one person owning the property outright, each legal heir receives an undivided ownership interest, even if they do not live on or actively manage the property. This situation commonly arises when someone dies intestate (without a valid will), and ownership transfers according to state inheritance laws.
No. Washington law does not require you to hire an attorney to create an estate plan. Many people use online tools or standardized forms to prepare basic estate planning documents, especially if they have straightforward financial and family situations. However, estate planning is about more than completing paperwork. An attorney can help ensure your documents reflect your wishes, comply with state law, and work together as part of a comprehensive plan.
If you don’t have an estate plan, your family may face unnecessary legal, financial, and emotional challenges during an already difficult time. Without written instructions, many important decisions will be made according to Washington law rather than your personal wishes.
While state laws provide a process for handling estates when someone has not planned ahead, those laws are designed to apply generally—they cannot account for your unique relationships, values, or goals.
If you die without a valid will, you are considered to have died intestate. In that case, Washington’s intestacy laws determine who inherits your property.
Depending on your family situation, your estate may be divided among a surviving spouse, children, parents, siblings, or other relatives. The outcome may not reflect what you would have chosen if you had created a will or trust.