[WSBAPT] Anyone interested in this referral?

[steve at aitalaw.com]

Here's an interesting one. I will try to keep the fact summary brief.

 

In August 2020, I prepared a Will for a client whose primary asset was some
transferrable fishing rights (IFQs) that she had inherited from her father,
worth approximately $350,000 at the time, and she was working with a broker
in Tacoma to sell them. In her Will, she specifically disinherited her
daughter (only child) and gave specific cash gifts to her sister and two
charities, with the residue going in equal shares to her two teenaged
grandchildren (in Trust for any grandchild under the age of 30). She named
her brother as PR, with her sister being named as alternate PR. I was one of
the witnesses to the Will, as was one of my then-officemates and another
officemate notarized the Affidavit of Attesting Witnesses.

 

Yesterday, the client's daughter, who lives in Puyallup, called to tell me
that the client died last week. I pulled the file and although I did not
tell her the terms of the Will, I told her that I did not have her mother's
original Will, that her mother had taken it with her when she signed and I
kept a copy in my file, as per our usual office procedures. I did tell her
that her uncle, the client's brother, was named as PR and if he wanted to
hire me to represent him on the probate he was free to give me a call, but
that he was also free to hire whoever he wants, but in any event he needs
the original Will. Then she said, "Well, yeah, here's the thing."
Apparently, in January 2022, the client had suffered some kind of psychotic
episode and had been committed to the mental health hospital in Kirkland for
a couple months. Seven days before entering the hospital, she had had a
public breakdown, in front of her daughter, her sister, and other witnesses,
and screamed that her sister had been stealing from her (she hadn't), that
she wasn't going to give her sister any of her money, and ripped up the
original Will on the spot. 

 

Today, I got a call from the client's brother, the named PR who has recently
retired and moved out to Riverside in Okanogan County, and he is at a loss
as to what to do. Did she have capacity when she ripped up that Will? If
not, he feels he has a duty to honor his sister's wishes and try to admit a
copy of the Will as a lost Will, and he doesn't know how to go about doing
that? If she did and the client therefore died intestate, the
previously-disinherited daughter receives the entire estate and the
charities, sister, and grandkids are out of luck. He wants to do what's
right and is torn between his deceased sister's wishes (while she was clear
headed) and his affection for his niece.

 

In any event, I feel like I'm conflicted out on this one, since I
represented the decedent regarding her estate plan and served as a witness
to the Will and may therefore find myself a material witness if this
devolves into a litigated matter. Plus, the daughter's husband is a friend
of a friend and I just feel like any further involvement by me or my firm
would be inappropriate. This one seems fraught with issues. Anyone
interested in talking with the brother? I will pass on any names and
numbers, but he did say his preference is for a lawyer in Pierce County,
since that's where the decedent lived and where the daughter currently
lives. Please reply off list.

 

If you made it all the way through this email - thank you,

 

Steve Aita

 

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Thank you.

 

P. Stephen Aita

Attorney at Law

Admitted in Washington & Idaho

 

3010 Harborview Dr., Suite 301

Gig Harbor, WA  98335-1977

Tel.: (253) 858-5434

Fax: (253) 276-2373

 

steve at aitalaw.com

www.aitalaw.com

www.facebook.com/aitalaw

 

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