StokesLaw™ Briefs

Most Wills contain provisions for the appointment of a guardian in the event that both parents of a minor child are deceased. However, a Will is not effective until death and therefore is not effective to designate a guardian for a child whose sole parent is alive but mentally or physically incapacitated. Jenna Ichikawa explains what you can do to protect your children if you become incapacitated.

The Washington Supreme Court issued a ruling in Demetrio v. Sakuma requiring employers to provide paid rest breaks to piece rate workers. This ruling has enormous implications on the wage and rest break practices of all employers with employees paid by the piece or by production and take effect immediately.

Many individuals do not realize that in addition to the annual $14,000 gift tax exclusion there are also unlimited gift tax exclusions for the payment of certain qualified tuition and medical expenses. Jenna Ichikawa explains how the exemptions work.

This week the U.S. Department of Labor issued proposed regulations that would broaden overtime pay to raise the minimum salary threshold required to qualify for the Fair Labor Standards Act's "white collar" exemption to $50,440 per year, with the anticipated result of making nearly 5 million more people eligible for overtime who are currently exempt.

Large retail chains and financial institutions are not the only entities at risk when it comes to data breaches; small businesses are just as vulnerable to large-scale security breaches of their information technology systems. Olivia Gonzalez explains a business' requirements under Washington's updated data breach notification law.

On July 24, 2015, Washington law will permit individuals to create what are commonly called "directed trusts." Katie Groblewski explains how these trusts work.