[WSBAPT] Invalid creditor's claim; reported on credit report

[Alexis Singletary]

I have a surviving spouse who was an authorized user on a credit card for deceased husband.  Decedent was only card member; he opened the account before marriage but got a card for wife to use the account.  PR sent Notice to Creditors and creditor never filed a creditor’s claim.  Then at month 6 decided to start sending statements from collection company to PR.  We went ahead and did a formal Rejection and not just a letter telling them they messed up.

Now- creditor has filed bad data on surviving wife’s credit report even though it never attempted to request payment from spouse and she was not an account holder; of course negatively affecting wife’s credit.  The account was closed when husband died.

Any recourse for surviving spouse?  Creditor never alleged community debt and wife responsible since estate didn’t pay.  Can she only contest the debt with all credit reporting agencies to seek credit repair?

Thanks!
Alexis
____________________________
Alexis R. Singletary
Attorney at Law
Singletary Law Office, PLLC
253.833.8855
www.SingletaryLawOffice.com<http://www.singletarylawoffice.com/>

This message is from an attorney, so it’s confidential and may be protected by attorney-client privilege and/or the work-product doctrine.  If you are not the intended recipient, it’s too late to stop reading this message, but you may not use it for any improper purpose. Huge Disclaimer available upon request.

CLIENT ADVISORY:  A spam filter is in use in our IT system.  If you have not received a Reply to an e-mail message within seventy-two hours, please call or leave a voice mail message with the receptionist at 253.833.8855.

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Tim Bradbury
Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2015 12:41 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Invalid creditor's claim

Why skip the formal rejection?  It is no more complicated than sending a letter.  File it with the court.  And you are doing it the proper way.

I've had two creditors in the last 43 years call and complain.  I explain the error that they committed.  No one has ever filed an action contesting the rejection in any of my probates.

I think that it helps to send a letter of explanation along with the Notice to Creditors including that it must be filed both with the court and my office by whatever the expiration date is..  I also include a creditor claim form for them to use.  Pointing that out when they call to complain about being rejected seems to help.  Both creditors were legitimate and provided good service in return for their charge.  But the PR's duty is to preserve the assets for the beneficiaries or heirs.  And it is definitely outside the bounds of the PR's discretion to pick and choose among defective claims.

Tim Bradbury, retired

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 10:51 AM, Lovie Bernardi <lovie at sbfirm.com<mailto:lovie at sbfirm.com>> wrote:
Dear listmates,

Believe it or not, I’ve never dealt with a defective creditor’s claim before. A known creditor was given actual notice. They sent back the claim form we provided, unsigned, to our office, but never filed it with the Court. The creditor’s claim period has now expired. I was prepared to send a rejection to the creditor, then started to review some CLE materials which led me to believe that I need not reject it formally because it was not a proper claim. It now occurs to me that if the claim was never filed with the court, it is not a proper claim. The creditor continues to send statements to the administrator. The CLE materials had a “drop dead” letter to send in such circumstances. Am I okay with just sending that and skipping the rejection? Thanks in advance for the input.

Lovie Bernardi
Attorney at Law
Seligmann & Flaherty, PLLC
216 First AVE S, #450
Seattle, WA  98104
(206) 682-2616<tel:%28206%29%20682-2616>

lovie at sbfirm.com<mailto:joni at sbfirm.com>
http://sbfirm.com<http://sbfirm.com/>

**********
This e-mail may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient or otherwise have received this message in error, you are not authorized to read, print, retain, copy or disseminate this message or any part of it. If you are not the intended recipient or otherwise have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail, discard any paper copies and delete all electronic files of the message.  Circular 230 Notice:  This communication may not be used by you or any other person or entity for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties.


_______________________________________________
WSBAPT mailing list
WSBAPT at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:WSBAPT at lists.wsbarppt.com>
http://mailman.fsr.com/mailman/listinfo/wsbapt



--

Timothy Bradbury, PLLC

Attorney

1300 Hoge Building

705 Second Avenue

Seattle, WA 98104

(206) 623-1594/Fax: (206) 623-2186
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20160118/0aff0c99/attachment.html>