[WSBAPT] Creditor's Claim not filed with Court

Fri May 11 12:09:58 PDT 2018

The nonclaim statute is quite clear, and the Courts have enforced it strictly. If a signed claim meeting the requirements is not filed and served or mailed, by the later of 4 months from publication (May 9) or thirty days from mailing actual notice (also May 9th) there is not even a claim to reject. File your affidavit of mailing notice, your affidavit of publication (if you haven’t already) and call it a day. You could send the creditor a letter explaining their failure, but are not obligated to notify them.

11.40.070(4) - the waiver of defects is not an open door the creditors can use to still get paid. I view it as protection for the Personal Representative who pays bills they know to be valid because they don’t know any better, or want to “do the right thing”.

Heather

Heather S. de Vrieze
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From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Brent Williams-Ruth
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2018 11:38 AM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Creditor's Claim not filed with Court

Date of first publication was January 9, 2018.  So my calculations put the end of the four month period as May 9, 2018.

On Fri, May 11, 2018 at 11:32 AM, Sara D. Longley <sara at longley-law.pro<mailto:sara at longley-law.pro>> wrote:
My reading is that the statute clearly allows the PR to waive defects but certainly does not require them to do so.  And a large company with a legal department has no excuse for not properly filing the claim, IMHO.  I can’t see a court requiring the PR to ignore the law.

That said, you will also want to make sure the full four month period has also passed.  Creditors have until the *later* of four months from publication or 30 days after actual notice.

Sara

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From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com>] On Behalf Of Brent Williams-Ruth
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2018 11:21 AM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Creditor's Claim not filed with Court

Greetings -

I have a PR, that gave actual notice to a creditor, mailed on April 9, 2018 and stamped received on April 12, 2018.  As of this date, the creditor has only sent an email and a US Mail notice of payment recovery but has not, as of today, filed the claim with the Court.

The estate is small and there are other creditor's claims that were properly filed with the Court that have reduced the residual to an even smaller amount.  The PR (who is also one of three beneficiaries) would like to reject the claim for failing to properly file the claim within 30 days of receiving notice.  Reading through RCW 11.40.70 it clearly states that notice needs to come to the personal representative AND be filed with the Court.

My question really relates to 11.40.070(4) - the waiver of defects, where it says that if written notice was provided the PR may elect to treat the claim as properly filed.

Do Courts expect PR's to waive the defect of not filing the claim? This is a large insurer with a subro department that is seeking money for a claim that they paid out for their insured (and before you ask, my decedent was driving around without insurance for the last couple years of his life) and now want to recover from the Estate.

Thank you for your responses.

Brent

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