[WSBAPT] creditor claim

[Josh Grant]

I don't see any good argument that a creditor who timely  files a creditor's 
claim in an estate which was properly  opened, is somehow barred from 
collecting the full amount of his claim simply because the PR elected to 
open a second estate file.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Krista MacLaren
Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 2:55 PM
To: wsba probate & trust
Subject: [WSBAPT] creditor claim

Hi Folks,

I have a creditor claim scenario I have never contemplated before.  When 
decedent died, her best friend attempted to handle many of the immediate 
issues that needed attention before obtaining legal advice.  As part of 
that, she got an order from the King County Superior Court in Kent to have a 
safe deposit box opened to check for a will.  No will was found.  Later, she 
and the family contacted me to assist them in opening a probate, with no 
mention made of the Kent court action.

I opened probate in the Seattle KCSC and issued notices to creditors, 
including a credit union with whom the decedent had a credit card.  Credit 
Union did not file a claim under the Seattle cause number, but they had 
already filed a claim under the Kent cause number (before I had sent the 
Notice to Creditors).  I don’t know how they even knew about the Kent cause 
number.  I only learned of it because I was out of the office and wanted to 
check the court file, but didn’t have the cause number, so I did a case 
search online and found two separate cause numbers.  When they received the 
Notice to Creditors that I sent, they did not file their claim under the 
Seattle cause number.  They may not have noticed the cause numbers were 
different and just figured they had already filed their claim.

Now the creditor claim period has passed, and I am wondering whether we must 
pay them, whether we should not pay them, whether this is a defect that the 
PR may waive - ?  The estate is quite small and the claim is around $7,000. 
The PR just wants to do what is appropriate, and has no special interest in 
avoiding payment, but does want to protect himself from accusations of 
wrongdoing.

Thank you for any suggestions!

Krista J. MacLaren
Attorney at Law
Northgate Executive Center II
9725 3rd Ave NE, Suite 600
Seattle, WA 98115
(206) 523-6116
kjm.inc at me.com





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