Estate planning updates: November 1, 2026

We updated the Washington and Oregon estate planning templates on November 1, 2026. Here is what changed in the documents and the interview.

For Washington and Oregon Users

Wills and Trusts

• For a client whose spouse is not a U.S. citizen, the Disposition at First Death choices in Wills and Revocable Trusts now name the Domestic Marital Trust (QDOT) the plan actually creates, and the Primary Beneficiary definition now names that trust. The Domestic Marital Trust's tax paragraph now reads "more than one Domestic Marital Trust".
• The Joint Revocable Trust now states a survival period for each spouse, adds a definition of siblings, and provides that the Independent Trustee's powers do not reach disclaimed property.
• In the Joint Revocable Trust, the definition of Primary Beneficiary now reads "The Primary Beneficiary of each of the Irrevocable Trusts for Descendants is …".
• Wills, Trusts and Estate Plan Summaries now read "If either Lisa or Bart does not survive" in place of "If either of Lisa and Bart", with "is" rather than "are" where it follows. The Estate Plan Summary no longer puts a comma between the Contingent Trustee's name and "to serve".
• The GST Tax Considerations clause in Wills and Revocable Trusts now reads "my estate and my wife's estate" (or husband's, spouse's).
• Corrected a misspelling of "Beneficiary" in the final-distribution sentence of the descendant trusts in the Will, Revocable Trust and Joint Revocable Trust, and in the Estate Plan Summary residue insert.
• In a Will where a beneficiary's trust lasts for their lifetime, the Final Distribution clause now names the Contingent Trusts article instead of printing "Error! Reference source not found."
• For single and widowed clients, the family paragraph of the Will, Trust, Pourover Will and Estate Plan Summary now follows the answer to "Does the client have living children?" and can no longer name a child and then say there are no children. The Pourover Will also no longer prints a blank birth date for a child with none on file.
• For committed couples, the family paragraph of the Revocable Trust and Pourover Will, and of the Irrevocable Gift Trust, now follows the answer to the living children question in the same way.
• The Revocable Trust's incapacity provision now refers to "my incapacity" instead of "the incapacity of either of us", which belonged to a joint trust.
• The Revocable Trust's definition of descendants now reads "born after the date of this Trust" (the word "Trust" was missing).
• The Revocable Trust's tax and expense provisions now refer to the residue of the Trust and to the Trustee throughout, instead of Will wording ("the residue of my estate", "the Personal Representative").
• In the Revocable Trust, a percentage share of the residue for several beneficiaries now reads "The Trustee shall divide a 40% share of the residue of the Trust into equal shares" instead of combining two verbs.
• In the Revocable Trust, the fallback for a charity's share now says the Trustee distributes the share of the residue of the Trust, instead of the Will's wording about the Personal Representative and the residue of the estate.

Estate Plan Summary

• The Estate Plan Summaries explain more precisely when gifts to siblings, nieces and nephews take effect, say that specific gifts do not bear estate tax, describe who serves as Conservator for a minor child in the order the Will names them, and, in Oregon, describe the Agent's role for minor children.
• In the Estate Plan Summary, a trust for a single beneficiary now reads "The trust will be administered…" instead of "Each trust…", uses "his" or "her" (not "their") when describing that beneficiary's power to redirect the trust, and no longer repeats the beneficiary's name in the trust's title. A trust created from a percentage share of the residue now lists its trustee (joint trust and mirrored Will summaries). In joint trust plans with a Domestic Marital Trust, the Summary now names that trust's own trustees, and every trustee list uses the correct "either of them alone" wording for the number of co-trustees at each level.
• For a widowed client, the Estate Plan Summary now names her children and any deceased children, exactly as the Will does. A deceased child left without an answer to "Whose child is this?" is now treated as the client's own child in single and widowed plans, so the child is no longer left out of the Will.
• The "Your Family" section of the Estate Plan Summary now lists a widowed client's children by name, and trust-based Summaries for widowed clients now include a "Your Family" section.
• For single clients, the Estate Plan Summary now reads "your estate plan" and "your Health Care Power of Attorney", and the Revocable Trust's estate-tax definition refers to "my death" instead of "the Decedent's death".
• The Estate Plan Summary now describes pet provisions in joint trust plans, names co-trustees correctly, and states the full distribution standard for each trust. Oregon Gift Lists, Execution Instructions and Funding Instructions were corrected.
• In plans with a Children's Pot Trust, the Estate Plan Summary now says the trusts are created "for the benefit of your children" instead of running two phrases together. In trust-based plans that hold the children's shares in trust, the Summary now says the trustee is nominated as Conservator, matching the Pourover Will, and two small typos in the pot trust description are corrected.
• The Estate Plan Summary no longer slips into the Will's first person when describing who a beneficiary can redirect trust assets to: it now reads "among your descendants".
• The Domestic Marital Trust description in the Estate Plan Summary now reads "if she is a citizen but otherwise deems it to be advantageous".
• When a business interest is left to one beneficiary, the Estate Plan Summary now names that beneficiary in the survivorship sentence ("If Anna does not survive you").
• Several wording slips in the Estate Plan Summary are corrected, including "unless specific items are left to others", "will pass according to the terms", "consent to or refuse any kind of medical treatment", and each spouse's own care preferences now say "his" or "her" Health Care Representative.
• The Contingent Trust description in the Estate Plan Summary no longer repeats "then the".
• When a client has given specific funeral or memorial wishes, the Estate Plan Summary no longer repeats the verb ("has has provided" now reads "has provided").
• The organ donation bullet in the Estate Plan Summary now reads "To allow your Health Care Representative to decide whether to donate your organs."
• The Estate Plan Summary's disinheritance sentence now reads "all terms in your documents" (the doubled "in" is gone).

Powers of attorney, health care and disposition of remains

• The Oregon Durable Power of Attorney now indemnifies the Agent except for acts not taken in good faith (the sentence previously read backwards), states that a court may revoke the power when a conservator is appointed, and limits the dissolution trigger to a marriage or domestic partnership with the Agent. When the power is effective immediately, it no longer says it applies once financial incapability is reached. In Wills, Trusts and powers of attorney in both states, the digital assets definition now uses each state's statutory term, "catalog" (Oregon) or "catalogue" (Washington) "of electronic communications".
• In the Durable General Power of Attorney, the nomination article is now titled "Nomination of Conservators and Guardians", matching the order of its clauses.
• The green (sustainable) disposition of remains wording no longer lists promession, which is not a legal method anywhere in the US. It now reads: natural burial, green burial, aquamation, resomation or other types of body composting. This appears in the Disposition of Remains, the Washington Health Care Power of Attorney and the Estate Plan Summary. The Joint Trust Estate Plan Summary also reads correctly in a few disposition sentences: "her remains" and "her cremated remains" no longer run together, and the second spouse's place-of-repose sentence now reads "provided that her Agent may determine who shall take custody of her remains" and "provided custom instructions for her place of repose".

Client questionnaires

• Client questionnaires now ask married clients for their date of marriage, and ask clients in a committed relationship how long they have been together. The answer prints in the Personal Information section of the completed questionnaire, and the blank paper questionnaire has a matching line.

Washington only

• Washington trust packages can now prepare the Real Estate Excise Tax Affidavit (REETA) with the Funding Deed. Answer the questions on the new REETA tab, which follows Funding Deed, and the affidavit is filled in from the plan: grantor and grantee names and addresses, the trust as grantee, the parcels and assessed values, the WAC 458-61A-211(2)(g) exemption with its reason, and the $5.00 technology and $5.00 processing fees. On the standalone deeds, the exemption list now shows the current WAC section titles, and the affidavit prints the reason for whichever exemption you choose.
• Fixed the Health Care Power of Attorney for Client 2 (in Mirrored Married Will, Mirrored Committed Will, and JRT Different Ancillaries packages), which had been printing "Error! Reference source not found." in the Termination clause instead of a cross-reference to the Arrangements Upon Death paragraph.
• In the Estate Plan Summary for a plan with a Domestic Marital Trust, the surviving spouse's powers to change trustees now name the Domestic Marital Trust alone, instead of running two trust names together.

Oregon only

• In the Oregon Durable Power of Attorney, the delegation of parental powers now reads "pursuant to ORS 109.056 and for the period permitted under Oregon law".
• In Oregon Wills, the power of appointment provision in General Provisions now says the exercise of a power is governed by Oregon law.
• Oregon Revocable Trusts now cite "ORS Chapter 125" for conservators (it read "Chapter ORS 125").