Your state's pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. Bookmark it. I built this for the Washington T&E solo who knows Title 11 and the community-property rules cold but still loses an afternoon a week tracking the moving Apple Health pieces.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments I think actually matter to a Washington T&E solo. Each has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each comes with a reachable citation so you can verify it yourself before you use it with a client.
HCA recovers long-term-care costs for recipients age 55+; for clients dying on or after September 14, 2006, the recoverable estate includes nonprobate assets (RCW 11.02.005) and any life-estate interest held immediately before death (RCW 41.05A.090, RCW 43.20B.080).
Unlike a probate-only state, a Washington plan can't rely on a TOD deed or living trust alone to defeat recovery — the nonprobate reach is the structural fact every LTC plan is built around.
Washington is a community-property state; the TOD deed statute (RCW 64.80, eff. June 12, 2014) has specific community-property and registered-domestic-partner joinder/revocation rules.
Community property gives a full double step-up at the first spouse's death — coordinate that basis benefit with CSRA planning, and watch the RCW 64.80 joinder rules so a one-spouse TOD deed does what the client expects.
Maximum CSRA is $162,660 (minimum $32,532); Washington applies the $752,000 home-equity floor; MMNA range $2,643.75–$4,066.50.
Two places this lands: community-spouse protection math and high-value-home clients. Flag the 2028 OBBBA flat $1,000,000 home-equity cap now.
42 U.S.C. § 1396p · CMS 2026 Standards (medicaid.gov)
Decisions that bind a Washington practitioner — the Washington Supreme Court and the Washington Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Courts in Washington, and the Ninth Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
A man died after a 40-year committed intimate relationship, leaving most of his roughly $8.3 million in assets — all titled in his name — to his partner. After his son contested the will, a TEDRA settlement established the relationship and split the assets 50/50, but the Department of Revenue assessed estate tax on the full $8.3 million. The Court of Appeals affirmed taxing only his half. Under Olver v. Fowler, “each partner in the committed intimate relationship has an undivided one-half interest when the property is acquired, even if the property is titled in only one partner’s name,” so the partner’s interest “existed during the relationship, prior to, and upon” his death and did not “spring to life” at a later judicial declaration. Because estate tax depends on value at the moment of death, only his own one-half (about $4.15 million) was taxable; the TEDRA settlement “simply recognized her property interest.” The court alternatively held her petition was a valid, deductible claim and awarded the estate its appellate fees.
For unmarried long-term partners in Washington, this is a real estate-tax win: a surviving committed-intimate-relationship partner’s one-half of jointly acquired property escapes the deceased partner’s taxable estate regardless of how title reads. Advise cohabiting clients to document committed-intimate-relationship property characterization — or sign a property agreement — while both are alive, so the estate can support the exclusion and head off a Department of Revenue challenge at the first death.
In re Estate of Franks (Security State Bank v. Dep’t of Revenue), No. 60728-0-II (Wash. Ct. App. Feb. 3, 2026) (published) · official opinion — courts.wa.gov
This week in Washington for the T&E solo with Apple Health clients: what the WSBA, the Real Property, Probate and Trust Section, and HCA / DSHS bulletins put in front of you.
The WSBA CLE calendar, the RPPT Section, and the HCA estate-recovery and Apple Health updates all publish on different schedules. This is that sift, already done, with the link on each item.