Somers Tamblyn PLLC

We are contemplating a move back to Washington state where we lived for many years. Without proper estate planning we would potentially be subject to the Washington estate tax. n our initial contacts with the firm, we clearly identified that we were residents in another state. We were instructed to provide our detailed financial picture as well as our current estate planning documents which we provided promptly and told that our information would be forwarded to the attorneys for evaluation. The following is the email response.

“Thank you for filling out and returning your Questionnaire.

I will forward your information to our attorneys for review. Once they have completed their review, I will be back in touch with you regarding a quote for services and the next steps for scheduling.”

Well over a month went by with no word back from STIB. I finally contacted them by email requesting a status update. Within minutes, I received the following reply.

“Thank you very much for contacting our firm. Unfortunately, we are not able to take on your case. Our firm does not advise out-of-state residents on tax issues. Our focus is estate planning and long term care planning.”

The STIB website clearly tax issues as part of estate planning. I also found no restrictions on attorneys in Washington state providing consultation to out-of-state residents considering residency in Washington.

Needless to say, I was astounded by what I consider to extremely poor communication and timely follow-up. If it is indeed not their policy to advise out-of-state residents on tax issues, I would have expected to have been informed of that policy up front thus saving us the time of compiling and sending detailed and confidential financial and estate planning information. In my opinion, this represents incompetent and totally unprofessional behavior.

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