[WSBAPT] Suit Against Trust v. Opening Probate - Legal Leap

[Paul Neumiller]

There has been a recent post asking how can a creditor collect from a rumored trust when the family doesn’t open a probate.  Some have suggested that the creditor should open a probate.  But how does that work?  If all of the deceased’s assets are in a trust (so the deceased, in effect, dies penniless) how does opening a probate get to the assets of the trust?  How does the personal representative/creditor even learn about the trust?  I know there must be a RCW somewhere that addresses this because if a person can frustrate the collection efforts of creditors by using a trust, we would all dump our assets into revocable trusts (I envision my wife power shopping at Nordstrom while I’m on my death bed.)  On a practical matter, would the creditor open the probate, bring a TEDRA action, and then use discovery to learn about the existence of the trust?

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