[WSBAPT] Recording a death certificate

[Nick Pleasants]

I’ll add a dissenting opinion. Why are you recording the death certificate at all? If/when the property is sold, the title company is going to do its own investigatoin, and you probably would just tell them one of the trustees died and give the title company the death certificate, and they can record it if they want to or not. Given that, I do not routinely record the death certificate if property is in a living trust.

If it bothers the client to have the Deceased spouse’s name on the property tax bill, you can just call the County Treasurer/Assessor and have them change it (they don’t usually require a REETA to make a change to the taxpayer name).

My bias is to not make things a permanent public record unless necessary. In this case, it is not necessary to record the death certificate after the first spouse dies.
You would be required to file the pour-over will, if any exists. That is often all we file for public record on death of first spouse.
Best,
Nick

Nicholas Pleasants | Shareholder

[OseranHahnAttyatLaw 8]

11225 SE 6th Street | Suite 100 | Bellevue, WA 98004
Main: (425) 455-3900 | Fax: (425) 455-9201 | E-mail: npleasants at ohswlaw.com<mailto:npleasants at ohswlaw.com>

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: This e-mail message contains information belonging to the law firm of Oseran Hahn, P.S., which may be privileged, confidential and/or protected from disclosure. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you think that you have received this message in error, please e-mail the sender. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution or copying is strictly prohibited.


From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Mark Anderson
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2023 9:26 AM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Recording a death certificate

My answer would be yes.  Otherwise, the client will just have to deal with that later when the client goes to sell or otherwise dispose of the property.  Also, this may serve to put a "tick mark" in the records of the county assessor as to documents/events affecting title to the property.

Mark B. Anderson
ANDERSON LAW FIRM PLLC
821 Dock St  Ste 209  PMB 4-12
Tacoma, Washington 98402
+1 253-327-1750
+1 253-327-1751 (fax)
marka at mbaesq.com<mailto:marka at mbaesq.com>
www.mbaesq.com<http://www.mbaesq.com/>
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
This transmission is confidential and is intended solely for the use of the individual named recipient. It may be protected by the attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, or other confidentiality protection. If you are not the intended recipient, or the person responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, be advised that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify the sender via e-mail or by telephone at (253) 327-1750 that you have received the message in error, and then delete it. Thank you.

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 Jon Fritzler
Sent: 09/19/2023 12:38 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com<mailto:wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Recording a death certificate

Client and his deceased spouse were co-trustee’s of their RLT.  When recording the spouse’s death certificate, should a cover sheet be recorded with the legal description of the property(ies) affected?

Sincerely,
Jon M. Fritzler
Attorney at Law
717 E. 22nd St.
Vancouver, WA 98666
Tel. 360.818.4431
E-mail fritzlerlaw at outlook.com<mailto:fritzlerlaw at outlook.com>




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20230927/77a07bd4/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 10176 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20230927/77a07bd4/image001.jpg>