[WSBAPT] Probate with questionable will

[Candace Wilkerson]

Hi Listmates,

Has anyone ever filed a probate petition in the alternative in King County, i.e., to appoint the Petitioner as Personal Representative if the filed will is considered valid, and as Administrator if it's not?  I don't need to set a hearing because my client is the only beneficiary or heir at any rate, so I will be filing ex parte via the clerk.

It's debatable whether this will is going to be considered valid, because it's a DIY form will in which the testator scratched out a number of provisions, handwrote some of it, and the two witnesses don't attest under oath (although they do say they were present when the testator signed it).

I just had an old will rejected in another case as non-self-proving (the attestation from 1988 didn't include language under penalty of perjury).  So I thought this time I might ask in the proposed order that, if the judge/commissioner decides the will isn't valid, my client simply be appointed administrator instead.  There is no one else to notify even in intestacy.  That way I won't be stuck re-filing the whole petition in intestacy.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Candace Wilkerson



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