[WSBAPT] Shipping costs of estate items

[Heather deVrieze]

I think the Personal Representative would be given wide latitude to make reasonable decisions here. As long as they are not showing preference (paying to ship to one heir but not another) and making decisions that are generally in the best interest of the estate, they can pay, or not pay.

For example, I had an estate where the beneficiary was in Hawaii and wanted the estate to pay to ship a convertible (worth less than $10,000) to him. Estate refused given the cost and unfairness to the other beneficiaries. I have had other situations where the estate paid for a U-Haul for a beneficiary to come move furniture that they were keeping. If you aren't worried about convincing the IRS that these costs are legitimate "estate expenses", get the beneficiaries to agree, or have the Personal Representative put their plan in writing to all beneficiaries and let them challenge in Court if they don't like it.

Heather


Heather S. de Vrieze
Attorney-at-Law
[cid:image001.jpg at 01D013C2.30F35160]
3909 California Avenue SW
Seattle, WA 98116-3705
(206)938-5500
heatherd at westseattlelaw.com<mailto:heatherd at westseattlelaw.com>
www.westseattlelaw.com<http://www.westseattlelaw.com/>

Click here to connect with de Vrieze | Carney on Facebook:   [FB Logo] <https://www.facebook.com/DeVriezeCarney>

CONFIDENTIAL & PRIVILEGED. This e-mail message may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information.  If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete all copies of this e-mail message and any attachment.

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Gerald Sprute
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2015 9:15 AM
To: RPPT listserv
Subject: [WSBAPT] Shipping costs of estate items

Probate gurus,

Who is responsible for paying for the cost of shipping personal items to an heir?  Is it the beneficiary receiving the property, or is this considered an administrative cost of distributing assets and thus borne by the estate?  The Will is silent on this issue.

Jerry Sprute

Law Office of Gerald A. Sprute
P.O. Box 1657
Duvall, WA 98019
Tel: (425) 892-4079
Fax: (425) 844-9151
www.sprutelaw.com<http://www.sprutelaw.com>









Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this communication is Confidential and may also be Attorney-Privileged.

The information contained in this communication is intended for the individual or entity to whom it is addressed.  If you are not the intended recipient or an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that unauthorized viewing, dissemination, distribution or copying of this transmission is in violation of the Electric Communications Privacy Act of 1986 as well as the Domestic and International Laws and Treaties.  If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify Gerald Sprute by telephone at 425.892.4079 and delete it from your system.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20150610/d0471dc7/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 7560 bytes
Desc: image002.png
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20150610/d0471dc7/image002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 7107 bytes
Desc: image003.jpg
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20150610/d0471dc7/image003.jpg>