[WSBAPT] Closing Estate - Heir who cannot be found

[David Faber]

List,

(C)lient has been trying to wrap up the administration of an intestacy for
the last few years and has finally completed the sale of personal property
& liquidation of decedent's real estate. Everything is rendered down to
cash in a blocked estate account and all tax obligations have been settled.

(D)ecedent had no children, no spouse, no surviving parent, and no
surviving siblings. C is D's niece. D has another surviving niece and a
surviving nephew, as well as a great-nephew (GN) who is the sole survivor
of D's other nephew, who predeceased her. C has been trying to find GN for
years to no avail, but believes he is alive. We are prepared to move
forward with closing the estate but I'm running up against uncertainty
about how I should proceed given that we have an heir who cannot be found.

My plan is to file with the court to approve the final accounting, order
reimbursement to C of estate expenses, and directing the bank to release
the blocked account cutting checks for each beneficiary; standard blocked
account stuff. *But what should I do with regard to GN's 1/4 of the estate?*
This is one issue that I've never had to navigate. I'm aware that there's
potentially a process for having funds deposited into the court registry,
or something like that, but I don't know anything about how to make that
work.

Does anyone know this process/is anyone willing to share with me any
example pleadings for how to proceed with this or otherwise give me
direction on this process?

Thank you very much.

Best,
David J. Faber
Faber Feinson PLLC
800 Polk Street, Suite B
Port Townsend, WA 98368
(360) 379-4110

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