Burien Trust Planning & Administration Guidance
Trusts are flexible estate planning tools that can help families in Burien manage assets, avoid probate, and provide long-term protection for loved ones. A well-structured trust can also support incapacity planning and make estate settlement more private and efficient.
Depending on your goals, a plan may include a revocable living trust for probate avoidance, a special needs trust to protect eligibility for public benefits, or planning trusts such as a credit shelter trust or marital trust for family and tax planning needs.
Trust planning is often coordinated with a will, a healthcare directive, and durable powers of attorney (including financial durable power of attorney and healthcare durable power of attorney) to create a complete estate plan.
Trust administration can also raise practical issues—funding the trust, managing real estate and accounts, recordkeeping, and making distributions—especially when families are navigating loss or conflict. Clear drafting and good guidance can reduce delay and disputes.
Learn About Trust Options Before Scheduling a Consultation
Our experimental legal guidance chatbot provides general educational information about Washington trust planning, common trust types, and questions that come up in trust administration.
Use it to get oriented, then schedule a consultation with Ruth for personalized guidance.
Disclaimer: The chatbot provides general information only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Individual circumstances require personalized legal advice.
About Ruth
Ruth Apahidean is a trusts and estates attorney at the Law Office of Neil R. Sarles. Her practice focuses on elder law, estate planning, and probate. She helps individuals and families plan for the management and transfer of their assets during life and after death.
This includes creating wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives. She assists clients decide how assets should be distributed, who will make financial or medical decisions if the client becomes incapacitated, and how to protect beneficiaries such as minor children or family members with special needs.
Ruth guides individuals and families through the probate process (the court-supervised procedure used to settle a person’s estate after death). Her primary role is to assist the personal representative ensure that the deceased person’s assets are distributed according to a valid will or, if no will exists, in accordance with state law.
She has volunteered at Neighborhood Legal Clinics: Elder Law Clinic, the Washington First Responder Will Clinic, and Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers. Ruth is the Bar Talk Columnist for the King County Bar Association Bar Bulletin and the New Lawyer Liaison for the Washington State Bar Association Senior Lawyers Section.
Learn more about Ruth at https://www.sarles.com/.
Education:
- J.D., University of Washington School of Law
- B.A., History and English, University of Washington, magna cum laude
Bar Admissions:
- U.S. District Courts: Western District of Washington
- All Washington State Courts
Memberships:
- King County Bar Association
Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or want to schedule a meeting, you can reach Ruth directly by email at ruth@sarles.com or using the form below.