[WSBAPT] Conflict Waiver to Represent PR and Creditor in Probate

[Philip N. Jones]

I don’t have a letter to offer you, but I do have a few comments.
There is a 5/4/2001 Washington disciplinary case, where the lawyer was disciplined for representing a client both as executor of an estate and in her individual capacity claiming a bank account that was the major asset of the estate.  The client claimed that she was added as owner to the bank account during her father’s life and the other beneficiaries contested her claim.  In that case, I recall that the attorney stipulated to the existence of a conflict.  To me, that means that existence of a conflict was not actually litigated.
I know of no other authority in Washington on this point.  If anyone has any authority, I would like to hear about it.
In Oregon, the answer is that the attorney cannot have a conflict if he represents one client who has two or three roles; the attorney nevertheless has only one client.  See Oregon Formal Opinions 1991-119 and 2005-119.  If the client has three roles, the answer is the same.  In each case, the duty of the attorney is to advise the one client how to balance the one client’s various interests.  The client has conflicting interests, but the attorney does not have conflicting clients.
I think the Oregon rule is the correct one, and I wish Washington would follow that rule.  But right now there is very little authority.
Karen Boxx and I made a presentation on this subject at the 2016 Annual Estate Planning Seminar in Seattle, and some of the above sentences have been lifted from our written materials.
Phil Jones
Portland, OR

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Thomas Hackett
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2018 12:14 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Conflict Waiver to Represent PR and Creditor in Probate

Colleagues-

Hoping you can share any letter you have for representing a person both as a personal representative of an estate and as a creditor of the estate. Happy to share our final product too.

Thank you in advance.

[https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B-SxUq1b3OJKWTdxRWo3ZThmaGs&revid=0B-SxUq1b3OJKNVVIcDZreEwxdGNIb1Q5VDRDU0RrUTVoL2E4PQ]

Thomas A. Hackett
Attorney | NW Legacy Law Center, P.S.
360-975-7770 | http://nwlegacylaw.com<http://nwlegacylaw.com/>
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