[WSBAPT] WA Ancillary Probate with Minor Heir- GAL needed

[Nicholas Pleasants]

Probate Guardians ad Litem are not required in a non-intervention probate. RCW 11.76.080. The court may appoint one if it chooses. This tends to be a “soft” requirement in King County – e.g. they will probably just appoint one if they realize there is a minor. Since you can choose venue in any county in the state (RCW 11.96A.050(4)), this could be a case where it may be preferable to file in a county that is known for not requiring Probate GALs, all else being equal.
When forum shopping, also consider the cost of publishing Notice to Creditors, which has to be published in the county in which you file (I just paid >$500 to publish in Mason County – that was decedent’s county of residence, so I didn’t have a choice – cf. Seattle Daily Journal only charges $120).
Also, consider that you can choose who is your probate GAL (no requirement that it come from the list). RCW 11.76.080 does not give particular guidelines to the GAL’s qualifications, just “some disinterested person.” If it’s not too complicated, you can probably find someone to approve the sale of the real estate and report to the court that the real estate was sold for a fair price and the rest of the probate is down in California. Seems like the scope of the GAL report could be sufficiently narrow to limit the cost. You can find the King County Order Appointing Limited GAL on Chad Horner’s website (https://www.kingcountyprobates.com/minor-beneficairies). If the court uses the limited order, it really should not be that expensive of a GAL report. So maybe the more prudent approach is asking the court to seriously limit the GAL’s role in an effort to control costs.
Best,
Nick

Nicholas Pleasants
Pleasants Law Firm, P.S.
2300 130th Ave NE, Suite A-101
Bellevue, WA 98005-1755
(425) 615-7070 tel/fax
nick at pleasantslaw.com<mailto:nick at pleasantslaw.com>
The information contained in this e-mail message may be privileged and is confidential information intended only for the use of the recipient, or any employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient. Any unauthorized use, distribution or copying of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately and destroy the original message and all attachments from your electronic files.

From: <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> on behalf of Julie Martiniello <julie at dimensionlaw.com>
Reply-To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 2:14 PM
To: Trust and Probate Section <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] WA Ancillary Probate with Minor Heir- GAL needed

Hello All,

I have my first experience with an ancillary probate with a minor heir. California probate, one property in WA that is being sold and probate is being required here for that. I know the probate process is not really "ancillary" here, but will the minor heir need a GAL here in WA since the main probate is in CA? Hoping to avoid that expense/complication for the client.

Thanks in advance for your knowledge!

--
Respectfully,

JULIE A. MARTINIELLO | PARTNER | DIMENSION LAW GROUP PLLC
130 Andover Park East, Suite 300 | Tukwila, WA 98188
t: 206.973.3500 | f: 206.577.5090| e: JULIE at dimensionlaw.com| www.dimensionlaw.com<http://www.dimensionlaw.com/>


PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL:  This e-mail (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify us by e-mail, facsimile, or telephone; return the e-mail to us at the e-mail address below; and destroy all paper and electronic copies.

PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL:  This e-mail (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. Attempts to intercept this message are in violation of 18 USC 2511(1) of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which subjects the interceptor to fines, imprisonment and/or civil damages. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify us by e-mail, facsimile, or telephone; return the e-mail to us at the e-mail address below; and destroy all paper and electronic copies. Any settlement offer contained herein is made pursuant to Washington ER 408, and without admitting fault or liability on the part of this firm’s client(s) or its agents.  IRS CIRCULAR 230 DISCLAIMER:  To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, I inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code; or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or tax-related matter addressed herein.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20200528/fe18392b/attachment.html>