[WSBAPT] Notice required to $1 beneficiary in small estate?

[Lovie Bernardi]

Dear listmates,

Client's mother passed away with a small estate. Ordinarily, a small estate affidavit would make sense. Here is the issue: Mom had a will. She left her estate to her child and two of her step children. She left the third stepchild one dollar. Must this third step child be given notice as a claiming successor? To further complicate matters, he is a ward of another state.

After it was suggested (thanks Krista!) that the client could pay the step brother $1 and send a copy of the will, it got me thinking: is the step brother a successor? The small estate statute defines a successor as "[t]hat person or those persons who are entitled to the claimed property pursuant to the terms and provisions of the last will and testament of the decedent or by virtue of the laws of intestate succession contained in this title[.]" The step brother is entitled to one dollar by virtue of the bequest in the will and he is not an heir under the intestate statute. He is not entitled to the residue of the estate. Any thoughts on whether step brother needs to receive notice and agree in writing that the client can receive the property of the estate through a small estate affidavit?

Lovie L. Bernardi
Flaherty & Bernardi, PLLC
3600 15th Avenue West #205
Seattle, WA  98119
(206) 682-2616

lovie at fb-lawfirm.com<mailto:joni at sbfirm.com>
http://fb-lawfirm.com<http://sbfirm.com/>

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