[WSBAPT] Meaning of RCW 11.40.120

Fri Oct 25 13:14:45 PDT 2019

Thanks, Paul.Tom

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On Friday, October 25, 2019, 12:27, Paul Neumiller <pneumiller at hotmail.com> wrote:

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Hi Tom, in support of my understanding, I found this 1949 supreme court case:

“Rem.Rev.Stat. § 1488, further provides: 'The effect of any judgment rendered against any executor or administrator shall be only to establish the amount of the judgment as an allowed claim.'  It will thus be seen from the foregoing statutes that when the claim of a creditor of an estate is rejected his only remedy is to bring suit against the executor or administrator, and if any judgment is rendered it shall be only to establish the amount thereof as an allowed claim, and it necessarily follows that our garnishment statutes are not applicable. The statutes provide an exclusive remedy to the creditor. A writ of garnishment would avail the creditor nothing and might have the effect of giving him a preference to which he would not be entitled.Estate claims, when allowed either by the legal representative and the court, or pursuant to the above statutes, must be paid in the ordinary course of administration and in the order of statutory priority. The appellant has mistaken its remedy in seeking a money judgment against the executrix to be collected and paid through garnishment proceedings.”

Archer Blower & Pipe Co. v. Archer, 33 Wn.2d 317, 205 P.2d 595, (1949)

And this more recent appeals case:

“We conclude that a personal representative cannot be garnished in her representative capacity when plaintiff's judgment runs against the estate. A judgment against the personal representative of an estate establishes the amount thereof as an allowed claim. The judgment must be paid in the ordinary course of administration and in the order of statutory priority. The probate statutes provide an exclusive remedy [475 P.2d 904] to the judgment creditor under the facts of this case.”

Sadler v. Wagner, 3 Wn.App. 353, 475 P.2d 901, (Div. 2 1970)

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From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com>On Behalf Of Tom Westbrook
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2019 12:11 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Meaning of RCW 11.40.120

I always thought this just meant that the PR is not personally responsible for the judgment; but the estate still had to pay off the judgment to close the estate.

I'd sure like to hear if that is a wrong interpretation.

Sincerely,

Tom

Thomas J. Westbrook

Attorney at Law

Rodgers, Kee Card & Strophy, P.S.

324 West Bay Drive NW, Suite 201

Olympia, Washington  98502

Phone: 360-352-8311

Facsimile: 360-352-8501

Email: tjw at buddbaylaw.com

Skype: thomas.westbrook

www.buddbaylaw.com

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-----Original Message-----
From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Eric Nelsen
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2019 9:16 AM
To: 'WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv' <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Meaning of RCW 11.40.120

I haven't had to deal with this before, but I agree with your read of the statute. Just thinking about probate administration in general, it seems logical that unlike an ordinary money judgment in a civil action, the effect of proving a disputed creditor claim would be only that the creditor claim is allowed. The implication being that it gets paid like any other creditor in the same rank of priority, so for example if the estate is insolvent, the judgment would be "satisfied" with a partial payment when all creditors are paid pro rata under the priority of debt statute.

Sincerely,

Eric

Eric C. Nelsen

SAYRE LAW OFFICES, PLLC

1417 31st Ave South

Seattle WA  98144-3909

phone 206-625-0092

fax 206-625-9040

-----Original Message-----

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Paul Neumiller

Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2019 5:18 PM

To: wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com

Subject: [WSBAPT] Meaning of RCW 11.40.120

Listmates;  I am trying to figure out the meaning of RCW 11.40.120 which states in full: "The effect of any judgment rendered against a personal representative shall be only to establish the amount of the judgment as an allowed claim."   I have a situation where my client Personal Representative rejected a creditor's claim and through various maneuvering, we ended up with an arbitrator who allowed a portion of the claim.  The probate is still open but the creditor's attorney is pushing for fast payment and is threatening to "execute on the judgement" and force a sale of estate property.  So, what does RCW 11.40.120 mean?  Is the "judgement" one that the creditor can now execute on or, at this point, does it only establish the amount of the claim and is subject to the rest of the probate process.  There seem to be only four reported cases citing RCW 11.40.120 in WA and they imply that a "judgement" to establish the amount of the allowable claim is not the type of judgement that can be executed upon.  Thoughts?  

IMPORTANT NOTICE:  This e-mail message is intended to be received only by persons entitled to receive the confidential information it may contain. E-mail messages to clients of Paul A. Neumiller presumptively contain information that is confidential and legally privileged; e-mail messages to non-clients are normally confidential and may also be legally privileged. Please do not read, copy, forward or store this message unless you are the intended recipient of it. If you have received this message in error, please forward it back to the sender and delete it completely from your computer system.

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