Betts Patterson Mines

Livingston Wernecke

Of Counsel

Seattle Office

lwernecke@bpmlaw.com

(206) 268-8679

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Livingston Wernecke

Liv Wernecke is Of Counsel, with more than 50 years’ experience at Betts Patterson Mines P.S. He is part of the Estate Planning and Probate practice area and also is a member of the firm’s Business Transactions Practice Group. 

Mr. Wernecke’s practice covers estate planning, succession planning for closely held business, real estate and investment entities, compensation and retirement arrangements, probate, trust creation and administration, individual, estate and entity taxation, guardianships, and certain aspects of international trade.

He was co-counsel of a successful Washington Supreme Court case upholding the application of the equal protection clause to state taxes and has lectured at Golden Gate University in taxation of S Corporations, partnerships and estates.

Representative Cases

Estate plan drafted for

  • Couple requiring minimal language in federally taxable estate ;
  • Couple with federally taxable estate composed of illiquid encumbered real property
  • Couple with federally taxable estate largely in Individual Retirement Accounts;
  • Couple with federally taxable Estate using grantor retained annuity trusts and qualified personal residence trusts
  • Couple requiring gifts in closely held business ownerships
  • Beneficiary of a taxable trust and a difficult business/trust arrangement

Estate/Trust administration

  • Deceased spouse with JTWROS accounts, real estate and disclaimers to reduce survivor’s estate
  • Substantial charitable bequests distributed in several months
  • Deceased spouse with disclaimer to reduce estate taxes
  • Estate requiring real property sales for distribution
  • Assist attorneys with probate litigation and dispute resolution

Business Entities

  • Draft Buy-Sell Agreement
  • Draft Buy-Sell Agreement for elderly shareholders
  • Draft private foundation documents
  • Draft limited liability agreements for business succession

Real Property (often in trusts or Estates)

  • Prepare sale and security documents for commercial buildings
  • Assist with clean up and sale of contaminated properties

Taxation

  • Change large IRS estate tax claim in to equally large refund on real estate sold during estate administration
  • Dealt with IRS retirement plan claims
  • Dealt with audit on real estate values