[WSBAPT] Opening a Probate where there may be a committed intimate relationship and community property claims

[Carmen Rowe]

Responding to Eric's post below & others' comments regarding CIR rights
(or, not) as an heir, I will add one thought:

In addition to some of the niceties of communication that Eric mentions
going a long way towards avoiding a fight, the assets discussion is what
squarely comes within the probate issue. The personal representative is
going to have to ascertain what is - or may not be - the decedent's assets
at the home and in that process these issues have a direct bearing if there
were assets acquired during any CIR, any belongings that may be hers, or
improvements she may have made to the property, etc.

So communication is SUPER huge in that you are walking a fine line in not
suggesting she inherits, but at the same time, there is a duty to be sure
you are resolving issues of asset ownership without creating a claim by the
ex-spouse that you got rid of/sold/gave to a family member something that
was entirely or partially hers, whether because she brought it with her,
paid for it, says was a gift to her, or a CIR-flavored claim. And obviously
the more that's done cooperatively the better.

I suspect since she was living there that she still is? so you'll likely go
through most of these issues as she moves out and so you'll be facing this
out of the gate. Which is its own delicate situation, you really want
someone inventorying what's there as soon as possible after the death/she
starts packing up, and making sure you track what she takes or intends to
take. It's decidedly awkward as you don't want to seem unkind or
unsympathetic to her loss either, but bottom line is you simply have to
watch what is happening and find hopefully some cooperative way to do it
and be prepared to approach issues of possible assets that there is a
question over who really owned it/had rights to it.

Carmen Rowe, Attorney/Owner



Phone: (360) 669-3576 (direct cell)
Email:  Carmen at GryphonLawGroup.com

*Olympia/Lacey and primary mailing office:*
1415 College Street SE, Lacey, WA 98503

*Seattle office:* 2611 NE 113th St. Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98125

*NOTICE REGARDING OPERATIONS AND COVID-19:* We see our community as working
together to address COVID and its impact on our lives, health, and
business. The nature of our practice lends itself well to virtual operation
and we offer a range of flexible solutions to best work with your needs and
preferences. For issues requiring physical presence we will work with you
on applicable guidelines. We are here to support you.

*Privileged and confidential: *This message is confidential. If you receive
this message in error, please let us know, and please delete and disregard
any information it contains. We thank you for your respect in not sharing
this email with anyone.

If we are communicating with you regarding a debt or monies owed, THIS MAY
BE AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT, AND ANY INFORMATION WILL BE USED FOR THAT
PURPOSE. You have the right to seek legal advice from an attorney. To the
extent that the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies, this
firm is acting as a debt collector for the firm's client named above. Any
information obtained will be used for collection purposes.



****

Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2022 16:53:00 +0000
From: Eric Nelsen <eric at sayrelawoffices.com>
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Opening a Probate where there may be a    committed
        intimate        relationship and community property claims
Message-ID:

<098D0346993E6A48B0D5F184C0AB002E8EA35E at SBS2011.sayrelawoffices.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I agree with Jeff-same analysis. A CIR just doesn't rise to the level of a
legal marriage, in the context of a probate, and case law is clear it has
no rights derived from probate and inheritance statutes. By definition a
CIR is not inheritance of any kind; it is an equitable claim to part
ownership of assets accumulated during the relationship, and it can only be
pursued by a lawsuit against the Estate.

So from a procedural standpoint the estate should ignore the CIR partner.
That said, I'd talk with the PR about how to handle it. A little bit of
friendly communication at the outset, courtesy copies of some paperwork,
accommodation of their own grief and fears about the future, can go a long
way toward avoiding a fight.

But be very careful and work through the implications before conceding that
a CIR existed. Better to acknowledge the validity of their relationship and
the reality of their loss, without getting into whether it really qualified
as a CIR that would entitle them to an equitable division of assets
accumulated during their post-divorce cohabitation.

Sincerely,

Eric

Eric C. Nelsen
Sayre Law Offices, PLLC
1417 31st Ave South
Seattle WA 98144-3909
206-625-0092
eric at sayrelawoffices.com<mailto:eric at sayrelawoffices.com>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20220316/0642b656/attachment.html>