[WSBAPT] FW: Inquiry re Missing Beneficiary

[Kate Szurek]

Does anyone have suggestions relative to the scenario below, from our associate?  Specific bequest to the missing beneficiary (in a dated Will) is for $5,000, so we would love to not have to spend much time on it . . .

Any ideas welcomed.  Thanks in advance!

Kate

Kate Szurek, J.D., LL.M. (in Taxation)
kate at skagitlaw.com<mailto:kate at skagitlaw.com>

[SkagitLaw_Signature (2)]
Skagit Law Group, PLLC
P.O. Box 336 / 227 Freeway Drive, Suite B
Mount Vernon, WA  98273
360.336.1000
360.336.6690 (fax)
http://www.skagitlaw.com<http://www.skagitlaw.com/>




"All:

We have a question about a missing heir in a small estate situation.

We represent the claiming successor of a small estate, which will be administered via the small estate affidavit procedure. The decedent's will provides a specific bequest of $5,000 to a friend of the decedent. The claiming successor knows little about the beneficiary. The last known contact was several decades ago. The beneficiary has a common name and we have been unable to definitively identify the beneficiary through skip tracing or to determine if the beneficiary is still alive (if we could determine that the beneficiary had died (which is possible, given the beneficiary's likely age) the gift would lapse into the residue of the estate).

Where an estate is being probated, RCW 11.76.200 provides for appointment of an agent for an absentee beneficiary, with the agent to hold the funds for up to three years. If still unclaimed after three years, the funds are deposited to the county treasury for four years and ninety days, after which they go the state as escheat (RCW 11.76.220).

Has anyone dealt with an absentee beneficiary in a similar small estate situation?  We want to avoid incurring unnecessary expense in dealing with this bequest and likewise want to avoid the property going as escheat to the State of Washington.

Thank you in advance for your help,
Edward J. McNeilly, Attorney at Law

P.O. Box 336/227 Freeway Drive, Suite B
Mount Vernon, WA  98273
Telephone:  360.419.6852
Facsimile:  360.336.6690
Email: edward at skagitlaw.com<mailto:edward at skagitlaw.com>
Website: http://www.skagitlaw.com<http://www.skagitlaw.com/>

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