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

Mon Jan 18 10:12:08 PST 2016

Alexis, 

The decedent may have unwittingly added the surviving spouse as a debtor when he got a card for her under the same account. Especially if he did so over the telephone with the credit card company. 

Very truly yours, 
Maureen A. Wickert, Attorney at Law 

WICKERT LAW OFFICE 

14900 Interurban Avenue South, Ste 255 
Tukwila, WA 98168 
Phone: 206-859-5502 
Fax: 206-260-9005 
www.wickertlawoffice.com 
wickertlaw at comcast.net 

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----- Original Message -----

From: "Alexis Singletary" <alexis at singletarylawoffice.com> 
To: "WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv" <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com> 
Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2016 6:34:45 PM 
Subject: [WSBAPT] Invalid creditor's claim; reported on credit report 

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 

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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 > 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 

lovie at sbfirm.com 

http://sbfirm.com 

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Timothy Bradbury, PLLC 

Attorney 

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