[WSBAPT] Reject Valid Claims?

[Eric Nelsen]

I think you need at least a CR 11 - defensible basis in fact and law to reject a creditor claim. The PR has a fiduciary duty to treat creditors fairly, and a rejection of the claim without a good faith basis for the rejection I think would violate that duty.

I think the reason that CR 11 is essentially imported into the fiduciary duty is, it governs what you would have to put in the Answer to any Complaint filed by a creditor who has been rejected. If there is not at least a good faith defense that passes muster under CR 11, then the PR's bad faith will practically be demonstrably proved in court.

My opinion anyway – based on considering this issue from time to time when a client is sorely tempted to reject a creditor claim on a very thin basis as to the merits. (As to procedural problems, the case law is comfortably clear that the claim must strictly abide by the statute as to filing and service, so I happily reject claims that do not manage to jump through all the procedural hoops. That always meets CR 11 in my mind.)

Sincerely,

Eric

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



From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Felicia Value, Attorney at Law
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2016 4:19 PM
To: WSB Listserv
Subject: [WSBAPT] Reject Valid Claims?

Colleagues,

Can a PR reject all properly presented claims,  whether valid or not,  in order to force the creditors to jump through additional hoops, in the hopes of shaking a few of them off?  This is not an insolvent estate.

RCW 11.40 doesn’t seem to address the validity of claims in its description of accepting or rejecting them.  But 11.68.110(d) says that in the Declaration of Completion, the PR must affirm “That each creditor's claim which was justly due and properly presented as required by law has been paid or otherwise disposed of by agreement with the creditor.”

What do you think?

Felicia Value
Attorney at Law
PO Box 578/116 North Third Street
La Conner, WA 98257
(360) 466-2088
www.skagitprobate.com<http://www.skagitprobate.com>

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.

This email may contain confidential material protected by
attorney/client privilege, and is intended for use solely by the above
referenced recipient. Any review, copying, printing, disclosure,
distribution, or other use by any person or entity is strictly
prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the named recipient, or
believe you have received this email in error, please reply to the
sender and delete the copy you received. Thank you.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20160601/e706664f/attachment.html>