Darol Tuttle, Tacoma Washington Elder Law Attorney

​I have to apologize for implicitly disrespecting UW in the context of the Apple Cup. UW brought me a better education and, best of all, my wife. I met her working at the University of Washington Bookstore. She shelved books in General Non-Fiction. I shelved books in Academic. It was love at first sight. Actually, I had to kinda work to close that deal. Maybe it was a unilateral contract at first. Nevertheless! Tenacious and always persuasive, I eventually prevailed.

​This has relevance to my firm and it's location because I decided to go to Law School and one of the three Law Schools in Washington was, at that time, in Tacoma. My wife announced we would go to Law School and the second I graduated high tail it back to her ancestral home, Seattle. I agreed. We still live in Tacoma 27 years later. Turns out, Tacoma is pretty nice and so we stayed. To the point, I just moved the Tacoma office one block from the home my wife picked out all those years ago.

​Those stories tell you more about me than the professional experience and degrees. If you really have to know my “bio” or my professional experience, come to the office and I will show you my "dig me wall." That is what lawyers call the wall where all the framed adulations are nailed. Not my thing.

​Know this. I have practiced for 24 years and, really, just in one focused area of law. Currently, I call my practice area asset protection law. It has been a five day a week undertaking and at least eight hours a day. Tenacious. I practice in an area where there are few of us and great demand. The supply of lawyers is small because estate planning is just easier and to break into elder law/asset protection is very difficult law to learn and, so, why do that? However, the way I see it, if you are going to take up running, train for a marathon and then an ultra-marathon. (BTW - ultras are way more fun than marathons and the people are nicer). The sad part is that the demand for the few lawyers in my practice area means people are suffering. That part is hard and stressful but preventing people from going broke is a great feeling!

This feeling, how great it is and feels to help people, has motivated me in other ways. I prefer to own an operate my own firm and I can help more people by doing so. I mean that. The truth is that the practice of Law is no longer that exciting. I mean, I do it. I do it well. I upgrade my work product all the time. I recently invented a trust. But, most days drafting essential documents is a job. What excites me is helping clients avert disaster. We really do have a health care crisis in this country. Add to that loss from tax, mismanagement and market risk. What I like is putting a plan together that, when implemented correctly, puts assets out of the hands of creditors, i.e., shelters them. What is even better is just seeing stress leave the eyes of a family because the plan rocked! It rocked because the requirements of the Law were met but, most importantly, the right people knew what to do and when.

I try to help in other ways. I recently lowered fees by up to 38% for my clients. I did that by automating my practice. That felt good.

I also opened offices in Tri-Cities and Spokane. I had an opportunity to hire an awesome lawyer and she lived in Spokane and had a practice in Tri-Cities. That was it. When you find a quality person, hire them!

Now, wanna see what I wrote several years ago for my “Story.” Maybe there is no difference but I feel like I value being more direct. Transparent about what I do and how I do it. Authentic. Here it is:

Elder law encompasses a wide range of legal disciplines, including long-term care planning, estate planning, veterans benefits planning, and more. We strive to help seniors protect their assets against the high cost of long-term care and remain independent for as long as possible. If you have spent any time looking into long-term care costs, you are probably shocked. Nursing home care already averages $6,000 a month in Washington and continues to climb. An assisted living facility is almost as expensive, and adequate in-home care can be hard to find and quite costly. The sad reality is that two-thirds of families lose all their life savings within one year of moving into a nursing home. Does this mean you are destined to go broke if you need long-term care? Absolutely not. We can design a plan capable of preserving your assets and maintaining control of your personal and financial affairs in the event of disability. The tools we can use to accomplish this include promissory notes, life estates, annuities, and trusts. We can also help you obtain government assistance to help offset the costs of long-term care.