[WSBAPT] Contentious Heirs

[Jennifer Gellner]

Hi All:

I have two cases where my PR's and I are dealing with contentious heirs.  Does anyone know of a good resource for helping me help my PR's deal with problem heirs?


  1.  Heir is in jail, dad's will disinherited him, but mom's intestate estate was never probated and she had some separate property when she passed in 2007.  Heir in jail is unlikely to agree to the percentage of the house sale proceeds that we think is his share based on community and separate property and mom's intestacy.  Do we just proceed with the probate and he will receive a check and the notice of declaration of completion of probate and once the 30 days pass, it is done?  Heir is back in jail because he punched the other heir and was arrested (PR is family friend as two heirs are felons).



  1.  Heir is on SSI and/or SSDI in another state and homeless.  I sent a letter to his email advising him that he needs to make arrangements before we distribute (he wants money now!) so his benefits will not be impacted and he threatened that he will press charges if I ever contacted him again (obviously I don't think that would be successful, but ideally we can handle this in the best way possible).  Do we just proceed and send him a check and the notice - do we involve the Court requesting instruction even though we have nonintervention powers?  Two brother heirs are harassing sister PR.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

Jennifer A. Gellner, LL.M.
Principal, Gellner Law Group
P: (425) 235-5535 │ Toll-Free: (877) 252-0738
E: jennifer at gellnerlawgroup.com<mailto:jennifer at gellnerlawgroup.com>
8407 S. 259th St. Suite 203, Kent, WA 98030
505 W. Riverside Ave., Suite 500, Spokane, WA 99201

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