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 (Washington’s own probate code, non-UPC, with nonintervention administration) cold but still loses an afternoon a week hunting the current homestead number, the Apple Health slot posture, whether the latest WSBA changes how you scope an engagement, or whether a recent Court of Appeals of Washington decision just moved the law on capacity, undue influence, or a trustee’s duties. What’s below is what mattered in Washington lately — the week’s developments and the recent rulings from the bench.
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 from the last seven days that I think actually matter to a Washington T&E solo. Each one has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each one comes with the citation so you can verify the detail yourself before you use it with a client.
ESSB 5813 (Chapter 421, 2025 Laws; effective May 20, 2025) raised the Washington estate-tax exclusion from $2,193,000 to $3,000,000 for decedents dying on or after July 1, 2025, and raised the top marginal rate from 20% to 35%.
Clients whose plans were built around the frozen $2,193,000 threshold may now sit comfortably under the exemption, while larger estates face a meaningfully steeper top rate. Because Washington is a community-property state with no portability of the state exclusion between spouses, credit-shelter/bypass planning to capture both spouses’ exclusions stays live — revisit every plan against the new numbers.
ESSB 5813 (Ch. 421, 2025 Laws) · APP.LEG.WA.GOV · eff. July 1, 2025
Beginning with deaths in calendar year 2026, the $3,000,000 exclusion is adjusted annually by Seattle-area CPI growth measured over October 2024 (rounded to the nearest $1,000), with a no-decrease floor.
The exemption is no longer a static number to memorize — it climbs every year, so a plan drafted to the 2026 figure will understate the available exclusion in later years. Build the indexing into your planning assumptions and confirm the current-year exclusion against the Department of Revenue before quoting it.
Wash. Dept. of Revenue · Estate Tax · DOR.WA.GOV
The WSBA Committee on Professional Ethics released Advisory Opinion 202505 (2025), mapping seven RPC duties — competence, confidentiality, supervision, billing, candor, communication, and fees — onto lawyers’ use of generative and agentic AI. The Washington courts’ Board for Judicial Administration separately published an AI Statement of Principles.
This is an advisory opinion, not a court rule, but it is the bar’s stated read on how the existing RPCs apply to AI — treat it as the standard of care. If you use AI-assisted drafting, paper your supervision, confidentiality, and billing practices against the seven duties the opinion enumerates.
WSBA Comm. on Prof. Ethics, Advisory Op. 202505 (2025) · WSBA.ORG
Decisions from the courts that bind a Washington practitioner — the Washington Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals of Washington, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of 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.
Across the Washington Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals of Washington, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Washington, and the Ninth Circuit, no qualifying trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision has been logged at a verified primary source in the trailing window. Per the lane’s no-invent rule, this row says so plainly rather than inflating a holding — CourtListener is used for discovery only, never cited as authority.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling Washington T&E authority is unchanged. When a qualifying decision is verified against its official reporter, it lands here with the holding and the cite.
Awaiting verified weekly signal — official reporter / court source only, never courtlistener.com.
This slot holds the next significant trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision from Washington’s courts or the federal courts covering Washington. The lane reads each opinion before it lands here, and reads-and-discards Medicaid program/provider litigation as not T&E. When the trailing window has no new ruling, this row says so plainly rather than inventing one.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling authority unchanged.
Official reporter · court · date — never courtlistener.com.
This week in Washington for the T&E solo with Apple Health (Medicaid) clients: the developments from the Washington State Bar Association (Real Property, Probate and Trust Section) and the Health Care Authority (Apple Health) that actually moved your practice this period — each one primary-source verified.
Bar and Medicaid changes land on different schedules and aren’t indexed by practice focus. Every item here was checked against its primary source, with the link, so you can verify before relying on it.