[WSBAPT] Does CR 6(a) give probate creditors an extra day to file a claim if the last day falls on a weekend

Tue Apr 4 10:43:10 PDT 2023

Wait – the 3 day rule does not apply to TEDRA – how did I not know this?! I just moved a hearing to account for a second mailing.

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 Joshua McKarcher
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 3:36 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Does CR 6(a) give probate creditors an extra day to file a claim if the last day falls on a weekend

Well, Chandra, I am glad you asked this. In summary, I’m wondering if the answer is “In Division I you may win, if Rule CR6(a) was not amended as noted below in 2015 after the 2013 Stover opinion.”

As a total non-litigator reading your question, at first I thought, “Why on earth would the deadline not extend to Monday? Don’t they all?”

Then I discovered Stover (https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/695461.pdf), which I’d never had to read or think about before.

(Go figure the concept of “special proceedings” making 6(e)’s “3-day for mail rule” not apply in TEDRA matters. Great! Surprising; weird; but great! Estates get “greater finality” than non-estates, by a measure of a few days. Why not?)

So then based on the Court’s description of 6(a) being about periods less than 7 days, I’m unclear if 6(a) contained the quoted language below in 2013 as it does now. (CR 6 indicates it was amended on April 28, 2015. I cannot quickly find the history on CR 6, including what was amended in 2015.)

But, in theory, if this sentence was added after Stover, then (in theory), you have a harder case perhaps, because maybe the rule was amended to avoid Stover-like outcomes or something:

“The last day of the period so computed shall be included, unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is neither a Saturday, a Sunday nor a legal holiday.”

CR 6(a) applies to “any applicable statute.” Division I seems to say the civil rules don’t apply anyhow, so never mind 6(a)’s time computation rules.

So, it seems like “your” fight would be over whether the creditor’s lawsuit would be a TEDRA action (I assume so); whether Div. I was correct that those are “special proceedings” under CR 81(a) (I assume Div. I thinks it was correct); and whether, regardless of all that, no other statute on the books would make any statutory deadline ending on a Sunday extend to the next court/business day.

I’m intrigued. When you find an answer, PLEASE share it.

Best, Josh

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com>> On Behalf Of Chandra Lewnau
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 2:40 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Discussion List <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Does CR 6(a) give probate creditors an extra day to file a claim if the last day falls on a weekend

For the first time I have a probate where the creditor deadline for filing a claim fell on a Sunday and the creditor filed the claim exactly one day late on the Monday. (The PR was served on time.)  Before I have the PR reject the claim, can anyone verify that CR 6(a) does not apply to the notice provisions of RCW 11.40.051 and 30 days means 30 days? I have seen some cases (ex. in re Stover) but nothing specifically on point.

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Chandra M. Lewnau  |  Attorney
WALL GROUP LAW
51 W. Dayton St., Suite 305  |  Edmonds, WA 98020
Tel 425.670.1560  |  Fax 425.361.1512  | http://www.wallgrouplaw.com<http://www.wallgrouplaw.com/>
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