[WSBAPT] TEDRA for Technically Defective (invalid) Will?

[David Faber]

My client's sibling just died having signed a will without witnesses and
technically intestate due to the invalidity of the will. The will names my
client as personal representative, and names the decedent's long-time
partner as sole beneficiary. The decedent's siblings are the only heirs at
law, each of which wants and intends to honor the decedent's last wishes to
leave everything to the partner under the defective will. My first instinct
is to try a TEDRA signed by each of the siblings attesting to the validity
of the Will despite the technical defects, given the broad plenary
authority granted under RCW 11.96a, and 11.96a.125 in particular, but a
threshold question exists whether TEDRA can even be used to validate an
invalid will. Has anyone on the list had a situation like this?

A colleague has suggested considering having the siblings each gift their
portions of the Decedent's intestate estate to the partner, dependent upon
the size of the estate and potential gift tax concerns (which I won't know
until Friday). If the estate is small enough that gift taxes aren't an
issue, we'll probably follow that advice for simplicity's sake. That said,
if the siblings are concerned about gift taxes, I would still like to
explore TEDRA and whether it would serve my purposes here.

Best,
David J. Faber
Faber Feinson PLLC
210 Polk Street, Suite 1
Port Townsend, WA 98368
(360) 379-4110

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