[WSBAPT] Death of beneficiary pending probate administration, with medicaid wrinkle

[Stephen Brandli]

Assuming that son truly survived mom under the will and the Uniform Simultaneous Death act, If the amount is less than $100,000, then have a look at Chapter 11.62.  I believe this is the only way that daughter can simply take the money.  However, she would have to make an affidavit, in her capacity as son’s heir, that the son has no debts, which it appears she knows is not true.  Also, even if she paid the known debts first, she would be liable to creditors for two years after son’s death.

                Steve

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Sarah McCarthy
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2021 7:12 AM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Death of beneficiary pending probate administration, with medicaid wrinkle

Brain trust:

Probate of mom's estate.  Two 50/50 beneficiaries under Will are son and daughter. Son and daughter both survive mom.  Daughter is PR of estate.

Son then dies, pending probate administration, before assets are distributed.  Son dies without a will, has no spouse or children.  Only intestate heir is his sister, the PR of mom's estate. So, sister is now legally entitled to her 50% share of mom's estate, as well as brother's 50% share of mom's estate.

The wrinkle:  brother's estate has at least one creditor - DSHS - he was on medicaid at death receiving long-term care services, though this care was only for a couple of months, so not a huge medicaid estate recovery lien.

Question:  Does sister, as fiduciary for mom's estate, have a legal DUTY related to the proper legal administration of mom's estate, to initiate a probate for brother, notify creditors, notify DSHS, and resolve the DSHS lien, before transferring what remains of his 50% of mom's estate to herself?

Brother had no assets other than his 50% estate expectancy, so there would be no other reason to initiate a probate for him, unless sister has a legal DUTY to do so, as part of closing out mom's probate estate.

I've searched RCW 11 and can't find any indication of procedure if a beneficiary dies pending probate administration, and am not coming up with anything clear.

Sister would LOVE to avoid having to file a probate for brother, for obvious reasons...

Thanks all!


Sarah O’Farrell McCarthy

(Pronouns: she / her)
Attorney | Kelly, Arndt & Walker, Attorneys at Law, PLLP
6443 Harding Avenue | P.O. Box 290 | Clinton, WA  98236

(Located on Whidbey Island, Island County, Washington)
Phone: (360) 341-1515 | Fax: (360) 341-3272
sarah at kawlawyers.com<mailto:sarah at kawlawyers.com> | www.kawlawyers.com<http://www.kawlawyers.com>



This electronic message transmission contains information from the law firm of Kelly, Arndt & Walker, PLLP which may be confidential or privileged.  This information is intended to be for the use of the individual or entity named above,  If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any further review, disclosure, printing, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of this transmission is prohibited. If you have received this electronic message transmission in error, please notify us immediately by reply e-mail and delete the original message.  Thank you.



We do not accept service of any kind by e-mail unless expressly authorized in writing by the attorney of record.  This e-mail is NOT a contract and is not binding upon the author pursuant to CR 2A. This e-mail is, at most, a negotiation under ER 408.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20210219/56983158/attachment.html>