Attorney Profiles

David V. Andersen

My goal is to provide quality legal services to individuals and families who are asking for help often at very critical and sensitive times.

About 20% of my practice focuses on family formation through adoption, and the balance addresses estate planning  and probate.

Adoption: I consider myself a "legal obstetrician" who has represented adoptive parents, birth parents, and agencies in about 3,000 adoptions of all types -- independent, agency, foster-to-adopt, step-parent, international re-adoptions, and adult adoptions. I provide legal services in the emerging field of artificial reproductive technology. 

I've chaired or co-chaired every WSBA CLE  on Adoption law since the late '90s, authored chapter 60 on Adoption Law for the WSBA FAMILY LAW DESKBOOK, and presented  at numerous adoption CLEs.

Estate Planning: Ben Franklin once quipped that nothing is certain in life but death and taxes. Some people do not want to face up to this eventuality. If they don't, they are making the choice to have their estate distributed according to Washington's laws of "intestate succession," where their estate is given to their "next of kin." Why not be responsible and make choices that may avoid unnecessary taxes, that result in distributions appropriate to your loved ones' particular situations in life, and that lets you make specific charitable bequests.

Estate planning may involve the use of wills, trusts (either living or testamentary), durable powers of attorney, community property agreements, and health care directives. It also involves making the estate plan congruent with the way investments are held and with beneficiary designations on life insurance policies and other accounts.

Probate: Probate is the legal process of transferring assets to the appropriate persons according to Washington's law and the terms/directions in the decedent's will, if there is one. Probate is not a dirty word in Washington, where the process is quite streamlined, quick, and usually very inexpensive.

In my spare time, my wife and I enjoy tending our garden, reading, traveling and attending local theater. I collect baseball memorabilia, and I love talking on the phone with our three grown children, who are in Wacco, Texas, the Washington D.C. area, and Hong Kong.