[WSBAPT] BECU and Creditor Claim

[David Moe]

By any chance is BECU a secured creditor as to the debt in question—and does the estate (incl. non-probate estate) include funds in BECU CD or share or checking accounts?  BECU (and perhaps other credit unions) may claim to have a right to freeze or to enforce a set-off as to decedent's assets in BECU accounts.  I don't believe commercial banks enjoy the same right.   The right of set-off might put BECU in a "secured-creditor" status.  Secured creditor status would allow BECU to ignore the mailed NTC and to verify their offset claim.

Possibly that would explain the BECU  request for letters and death certificate.  This happed with an unfortunate result some year back with one of my probate matters where decedent left a $16K BECU share account but also had a secured debt held by BECU.  I don't recall whether that was a BECU notice/deed of trust or a BECU credit card debt.  The share account was decedent's only liquid asset other than equity in decedent's personal residence real property.  That cient needed some of the cash from the BECU account to make the decedent's residence marketable, in which event both the estate and BECU would have benefitted.  There would have been a modest surplus to the estate.  The PR client (a sole adult child beneficiary) did not have (or did not want to risk) additional personal funds to make the necessary repairs.  BECU would not relent.  My client, who had traveled from the east coast and paid attorney fees to open the probate, decided to abandon the estate rather than sink more personal funds into the fiasco.   In today's real estate market things might have been different.   My take-away has been to warn modest-means clients about this mixed-benefit situation involving credit unions.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Dave Moe

David Moe Attorney, P.S.
Telephone:  425-432-1277
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Email:  davidmoe at maplevalleylaw.com<mailto:davidmoe at maplevalleylaw.com>

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________________________________
From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> on behalf of Brent Williams-Ruth <brent at williams-ruthlaw.com>
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2023 5:06 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <WSBAPT at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] BECU and Creditor Claim

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum today......

I got a letter from BECU after sending them a known creditor notice for my mother's estate.  Rather than filing a creditor claim, they send me a document stating that I need to send them my letters testamentary and a photocopy of the death certificate.

Has there been some change to the creditor statute? Have I fallen and hit my head?

I cannot recall the total number of creditor's claims filed by BECU in the past - so I am curious as to whether anyone else has received notices like this. It seems strange that they would elect to send this - noncompliant communication - over actually just sending the creditor's claim.

Brent Williams-Ruth (pronouns: he/him)
Attorney-At-Law

Law Offices of Brent Williams-Ruth, a division of BWR Consulting, PLLC

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