Edward Barton

Edward J. Barton is a tax, estate and trust attorney in Anacortes, Washington. He is the Managing Member of Centerbridge Law Group, PLLC, which he founded in 2015, and of Centerbridge Accounting & Tax, a tax preparation and accounting firm he started in 2023. His practice centers on estate planning, trusts, probate and the tax questions that come with passing wealth to the next generation.

Ed brings more than 20 years of financial, tax and accounting experience to that work. He is licensed to practice law in Washington and California and is admitted before the U.S. Tax Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is also a Certified Public Accountant in Washington, a CFA charterholder and an Enrolled Agent admitted to practice before the IRS.

Before focusing on his practice, Ed served as General Counsel at Saint Martin's University, where he still teaches as a lecturer. He is an Army veteran.

Ed writes the Centerbridge Wealth Planning Series, plain-language books for families dealing with estate tax, trusts and estate administration, starting with Washington State. He also translates classic texts with commentary, including The Language of Sighs and Laments, a modern English translation of Lü Kun's Ming dynasty classic Shenyin Yu. His YouTube channel for Centerbridge Law Group covers inheritance, estate and trust planning, and Washington wealth and tax topics.

Ed holds a J.D. from Northwestern California University, an LL.M. with Merit in Economic Regulation from the University of London, an Ed.D. in Leadership Studies from Marshall University, an M.B.A. from Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management, and a B.B.A. in finance and business economics from the University of Notre Dame. He is completing a Master of Divinity at Liberty University and serves as Treasurer of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia.