Meredith Graff | Vancouver Estate Lawyer

My legal work is primarily in the areas of estate planning, wills/trusts and probate, and all areas of family law, including adoption. I serve as a court-appointed attorney for parents in juvenile dependency matters. I also provide mediation (neutral facilitator) services for relationship (marriage, living together, dissolution) conflicts/disputes and issues involving seniors/elder family members. My new mediation service called, "Hearing Each Other," focuses on helping resolve family group disagreements and/or communication problems. I am an ordained minister with First Nation Church and am training to be a Life Cycle Celebrant to create and perform ceremonies for families, children, weddings, and funerals. My goal in all court-based legal matters is to help my clients resolve the conflict at the lowest, most peaceful level, wherever possible.

I was hired in a dissolution matter where the first attorney had really screwed up the case. She allowed the other party to be named the temporary custodial parent in temporary orders, even though my client, the mother, had done all the work of primary parent throughout the marriage. The other attorney literally told the court ""her client agreed"" with this proposed plan by the other parent's attorney, despite my client hopping up in the courtroom and saying, ""I do NOT agree!"" Not only that, but her first attorney did not argue against the other side's request for spousal support paid by my client so he could continue to work 16 hours a week. We were able to get a guardian ad litem appointed who investigated and recommended to the court that my client be the primary residential parent. The report was so strong that the father agreed to my client being named the primary parent in the final parenting plan without us having to go to trial. While it cost my client to have to pay 100% for the guardian ad litem, it was 100% worth it because it totally changed the direction of the case. In addition, the court, in a subsequent order, ruled that the husband had to work full time and my client did not have to pay him spousal support. Thus, our final orders reflected my client's goals that she would not have achieved, had she stayed with her first attorney. I am now representing parents in juvenile dependency matters as a court appointed defense attorney. In June, 2018, the court dismissed the dependency case and granted a final parenting plan to my client, the father of a 9 month old baby girl. The mother was unable to get a handle on her methamphetamine addiction and quit her in-patient treatment program earlier in the year. From the beginning, when the baby was taken away at birth at the hospital (born meth addicted), I encouraged my client to do everything he was asked by the Division of Child, Family, and Youth Services. I mentored and advocated for him. The caseworker saw his commitment and recommended that the court place the child with him and dismiss the case. It was a touching court hearing and there was not a dry eye in court when he came the day the court dismissed his case. Even the judge wanted to hold his baby daughter before he left with her. In his case, cooperating, not fighting, was the way to get the best outcome for himself and his daughter.

I worked very hard and paid myself very little. I did everything for the first two years until I had built up enough clients that I needed a paralegal. I am big believer in treating people right. I never ask people to hire us the day they come for their initial consultation. We charge a flat fee for this first meeting and spend anywhere from an hour to over two hours with folks. We want them to get all their questions answered, know the law, their legal rights, their options in how to manage their case, and be given an opportunity to have us help them the best way for them. We care about our clients but we also pride ourselves on empowering them to be partners with us in managing their case, that is, the things that are client decisions, we make sure they know when it is their right to decide, what their choices are, and their best course of action, so they can make good choices.

Honest/ethical, knowledgeable, experienced, able to negotiate settlement not just go to trial, willing to tell clients the truth about their case (not tell them "what they want to hear").

Critical, because we have a smaller court than those in the King/Pierce County area. Knowing the judicial officers makes all the difference in having a good outcome in court. Reputation is very important in our county.

I do not do free telephone consultations. We provide some legal information when people contact us by email but we encourage a full, initial consultation for which we charge a flat fee and spend 1-2 hours with the client. A half hour does not provide enough time for a client to get all the information needed to take the next step.

Does not apply because we do not do free telephone consultations. I think this service is misleading. It is not enough time to really feel more comfortable and knowledgeable about one's legal situation but the client thinks they are getting something because it is ""free.""

I personally care about every client and have personal experience in the areas I practice. I know how it feels to be on the other side of the chair. I have been doing this a long time and know what I am doing. I am a former college professor and I bring that experience, my years of office management, and my parenting four kids to my work. It is my goal and mission to ""resolve conflict peacefully"" whenever possible. My real strength is being able to negotiate good settlements for my clients, where they have more control over the outcome than at trial when they give up all their control to a judge who has his/her own agenda, biases, and limitations.

Resolving a case before trial, and meeting my clients' goals in so doing. Seeing my clients' experiences be a catalyst for positive changes in their lives, rather than a setback.

I am already published and hope to eventually get back to writing for publications. I am a Reiki Master and love sharing Reiki Energy with anyone who is interested. I am a firm believer in peaceful resolution of conflict. I am a certified Life Cycle Celebrant, certified to create and perform funerals, memorials, dispositions, and ceremonies for healing. I am a licensed minister with First Nation Church Cherokee.

I regularly offer Reiki Share Circles. I am trained in hospice volunteering through Twilight Brigade. I have also offered Death Cafes for people to gather in a friendly, comfortable setting to talk about death and dying.

• _Board Member & Certification Committee Chair of Washington Mediation Association (2016-present)
  -Guardian ad Litem of the Clark County Superior Court
  -Member of Clark County Bar Association
  -Member of Washington State Bar Association
  -Member of Utah State Bar
  -Advanced Practitioner of Association for Conflict Resolution
  -Member of Clark County Association of Mediators (2009–2011)
  -Member of International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (2006–2010)
  -Member of American Inns of Court (2004–2009)
  -Board member of Washington Women Lawyers (2003–2009)
  -Board member of Clark County Bar Association/Family Law Section (2007–2008)
  -Member of American Bar Association (1995–2006)
  -Member of Cowlitz County Bar Association (2002–2005)
  -Board member of Cowlitz County Bar Association (2002–2004)
  -Member of Washington Mediation Association (2002-present)

• -Certified Mediator/Family Law from Washington Mediation Association in 2009.
  -Professional of the Year from Cambridge Who's Who in 2008.
  -CV Rated from Martindale-Hubbell in 2007.
  -Pro Bono Publico Service Commendation from the Washington State Bar Association in 2006.
  -Volunteer Lawyer of the Year from Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program in 2005.

• -In re the Marriage of J.K. & J.K. Outcome: Successful--Client Got His Day in Court! -Estate Planning for J.W.J. Outcome: Completed estate planning for client before he died of terminal cancer

• Ms. Graff is the author of a chapter in the book, Contested Landscape: Wilderness Policy in Utah and the West, ed. Dan McCool, Ph.D. and Doug Goodman, University of Utah Press, 1999. She is also the author of the poetry manuscript, "Mischpocha," a selection of family-themed poems. She is working on a book with her mother, Letters From Africa, which tells the true story of her parents' life in Kenya, Africa while her father was on his second professorial sabbatical leave. Ms. Graff's father, Cyrus M. McKell, Ph.D., was a botanist who has specialized in drought-tolerant plants.

 Closed during the lunch hour from 12pm to 1pm.

• Facebook
• Google +
• For More Information About Meredith Graff
• LinkedIn