[WSBAPT] Questions re scrap boat/vehicles on property - probate

[Diane J. Kiepe]

Suzanne,

I am going out on a limb here and really curious if anyone else has thoughts (or maybe you’ve found you answer and I missed it).  Clearly if they are titled in  decedent’s name they are part of the estate and the Administrator has the obligation to “gather all the assets and distribute them in accordance with the laws of intestacy”.  With that in mind, I would say she has no obligation – however with them being on her property, I think there could be a host of Public Nuisance issues that may expose her to liability – I’m having flashbacks to my law school days.  Then, as to the question of her rights in having them removed, I get flashbacks of all the bailment rules. I would assume she is considered a bailor but what category post death I’m not sure.

If the son is the sole heir, my off the cuff thought is that her best bet is to get an e-mail from PR indicating she can have them hauled off and maybe she even pays – not sure how much it would be – she got the home in an intestacy estate which is pretty impressive (jwros? todd?).  If he is not the only heir, she absolutely needs to rethink a strategy because the last thing she needs is a sibling to say they should have gotten 2 certain cars or the boat or whatever.

Another situation of bad facts, creating work that costs money and eventually someone has to pay but as an initial answer, the PR should be work on it.  I know this isn’t super helpful but I didn’t see anything come by and these are the real life probate type issues I find fascinating.

Best,

Diane J. Kiepe

Diane J. Kiepe
Douglas Eden
717 W. Sprague Ave.
Suite 1500
Spokane, WA  99201
djkiepe at depdslaw.com<mailto:djkiepe at depdslaw.com>
509-455-5300

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Suzanne Lieberman
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2021 11:26 AM
To: wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com
Subject: [WSBAPT] Questions re scrap boat/vehicles on property - probate

Good morning,

Son of decedent/Administrator of an intestate estate is asking girlfriend of decedent (PC) to retitle scrap boat, trailer, cars into her name and pay to have them removed from girlfriend's lot (decedent's home has been retitled into girlfriend's name). She can refuse, right? Does she have any liability for these? What are her legal rights in terms of getting these off the property? What if they are impounded? Any legal authority for this?

These are the last assets to be dealt with before probate is closed.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Lieberman
CMS Law Firm LLC<http://cmslawfirm.com/>
811 Kirkland Ave. Suite 201 (please note new address!)
Kirkland, WA 98033
206-383-6484 (Cell Phone)
206-659-1512 (Main Office)


Legal stuff I have to put in... To ensure compliance with Treasury Department and IRS regulations, we inform you that, unless expressly indicated otherwise, any federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written by CMS Law Firm LLC to be used, and cannot be used by the taxpayer, for the purpose of: (i) avoiding penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer under the Internal Revenue Code; or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein (or any attachments).
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20210330/b5c5a458/attachment.html>