Karen N. Johnstone

Karen Johnstone focuses on estate planning and trust administration. She has been a paralegal with the Trusts & Estates practice group since 1982. Assisting trustees in the administration of trusts for individuals and families, trust administration has given her practical experience and insight in her 20-plus years of drafting estate-planning documents.

Karen's areas of focus include:

• Drafting estate planning documents in will and revocable living trust formats, irrevocable trusts for estate tax and dynasty trust strategies, durable powers of attorney, community property agreements, beneficiary designations and healthcare directives needed for individual client planning.
• Administering family trusts, corresponding and conferring with trustees, beneficiaries, investment managers, and other parties, maintaining trusts records, preparing trust distributions and disbursements, filing tax and information returns with required authorities, and preparing related accountings and analyses.
• Maintaining the Washington state Trust & Estates Practice Group’s form system, drafting and updating estate planning forms in accordance with requirements of state and federal tax laws.