[WSBAPT] [REALPROP] cross post on King County rejection of Lack of Probate Affidavits

[Bickel, Dwight]

Why can’t the Treasurers, Recorders and the Dept. of Revenue excise tax official at each county, simply follow RCW 82.45.197?

That statute (new in 2008) was intended to ensure people who wanted to record documents related to inheritance would be allowed to record, claiming exemption from the real estate sales tax. Because that is not a sale. RCW 82.45.010(3)(a) and WAC 458-61A-202 seemed clear enough, but apparently not. Some counties had trouble with that because the statute did not provide a non-probate document to claim exemption for inheritance other than a probate. In those few counties, they were forcing and actually collected real estate sales tax for inheritance transfers.

So, Rep. Terry Nealey and I worked hard to make that statute work in practice and make sense to the local officials. I was acting as chair of the Washington Land Title Ass’n, that collaborated with the legislature to fix a problem and ensure uniform compliance by the local officials. The 2016 changes of SHB 2539 were to ensure that every county would be required to allow people to record documents showing the transfer had occurred by operation of law, and to ensure the local Treasurers, Records and the Dept. of Revenue excise tax official at each county would not have any way to argue that the sales tax applied to an inheritance transfer by operation of law. We changed 82.45.197 to use a LOPA to be delivered with the REETA claiming exemption.

Where do the county officials find authority that a conveyance is required? RCW 82.45.197 does not require a conveyance. “In order to claim the exemption, the following DOCUMENTS are required to be submitted.“

Some counties now refuse to record the LOPA that was delivered with the REETA reporting the transfer that occurred by operation of law. RCW 82.45.197(2) was very important to Rep. Nealey and to the title companies. We wanted to ensure the documents would be recorded. We thought the statute should clearly ORDER those people to record it!

“(2) The documentation provided to the county treasurer under this section must also be recorded with the county auditor.”

Dwight A. Bickel
Regional Counsel
Fidelity National Title Group
701 - 5th Avenue, Suite 2700
Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: (206) 370-3189
E-mail: Dwight.Bickel at fntg.com<mailto:Dwight.Bickel at fntg.com>
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