[WSBAPT] Administration started, then Will found - prove Will or not?

[Douglas Bratt]

A possible advantage to the recognition and use of the Will is that most wills waive bond, while a bond might well have been required to be posted when Letters of Administration were ordered to be issued by the court in this case.  If so, it is also well possible that the bond has already been acquired from a bonding company, approved by the Court, and filed with the Clerk.  In that case, the premium (good for one year) would have been paid prior to the bond being issued.

It is one thing if it is expected that administration will be completed within the one-year period.  It is another thing if complications in the case will result in the estate being open in excess of one year.  Under these circumstances, it would seem that the PR would not want to pay a second year's premium.  However, it might well cost as much or more than the bond premium to have to approach the court for admission of the will to probate and issuance of Letters of Administration with Will Annexed.

In any case, I would get written agreement from all heirs, and, in particular from Son 2, the PR named in the Will, approving the continued service of Son 1 as PR and agreeing that the new form of Letters of Administration with Will Annexed will NOT be sought from the court, given that the distribution outlined in the 1981 Will mirrors the distribution mandated by the Intestacy Statute.

Good luck.

Regards,

Doug Bratt

Douglas J. Bratt
Lawyer

[Envelope scaled Foster]

Office: (360) 213-2040
 Fax: (360) 213-2030



CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:  This email message may contain confidential or privileged information.  If you have received this message by mistake, please do not review, disclose, copy, or distribute the email. Instead, please notify us immediately by replying to this message or telephoning us.  Thank you.

NOTE:  I do not use encrypted email.  Messages sent to or from my office via email are not secure and may not be protected by attorney-client privilege.  This email address is not monitored at all times.  If your matter is urgent, please phone my office during regular business hours.

TAX ADVICE NOTICE: IRS Circular 230 requires us to advise you that, if this communication or any attachment contains any tax advice, the advice is not intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding federal tax penalties. A taxpayer may rely on professional advice to avoid federal tax penalties only if the advice is reflected in a comprehensive tax opinion that conforms to stringent requirements. Please contact us if you have any questions about Circular 230 or would like to discuss our preparation of an opinion that conforms to these IRS rules.





From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Eric Nelsen
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 3:52 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust listserve (wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com)
Subject: [WSBAPT] Administration started, then Will found - prove Will or not?

Intestate probate opened. Spouse had predeceased and their four children survived, and inherit all in equal shares. Son 1 was named as Adm-PR, by agreement of all the siblings.

While PR is going through old papers, he finds a Will from 1981 leaving everything to spouse, or in alternate to the four kids. So the Will's distribution scheme is identical to intestacy. (Estate is solvent and no debts or non-probate assets that would have implications on having to allocate debts/expenses any differently either.) The only difference is, Son 2 is named as PR in the 1981 Will as alternate to the (deceased) spouse.

The kids are cooperative and agree they still want Son 1 to serve.

I plan to just file the Will in the probate file but not petition to get it proved and the letters changed to "letters of administration with will annexed." Does anyone see a problem with that? Am I missing any possible consequence of finishing this off as an intestate administration without the Will?

Sincerely,

Eric

Eric C. Nelsen
SAYRE LAW OFFICES, PLLC
1320 University St
Seattle WA  98101-2837
phone 206-625-0092
fax 206-625-9040

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20150429/cada0d9a/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 9690 bytes
Desc: image003.jpg
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20150429/cada0d9a/image003.jpg>