[WSBAPT] Probate for Minor Decedent

[Kendel Froese]

Good morning:

I have a client who has been appointed as the administrator of her
brother's estate. He was 16 years old when he died. A big part of why we
needed to open probate and appoint an administrator was because a wrongful
death action was being pursued and someone needed to be appointed to act on
behalf of the estate.

Clearly, the decedent died without a Will - in large part of course because
he couldn't legally execute a Will as a minor. My assumption has been that
his assets are to be distributed under the laws of intestacy.... but this
is just weird enough with him being a minor that I wanted to reach out and
see if anyone has dealt with similar circumstances and would be willing to
brainstorm with me. He wasn't married and didn't have kids, so his estate
is set to go to his parents - and the decedent's mother was completely out
of the picture while he was alive (they didn't even know where mom was
living). I'm wondering if there is a case to be made that if he had been
old enough to execute a Will, he would not have left anything to his
estranged mother? Any case law anyone is aware of? Or are we just stuck
with the laws of intestacy?

Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom!

Warmly,
Kendel

--

Kendel Froese

Attorney, Froese Law PLLC <https://www.froeselawpllc.com>

203 N. Washington | Suite 200 | Spokane, WA | 99201

509.514.5317 (Call & Text)

Instantly schedule an appointment with me here
<https://calendly.com/froeselawpllc>!

*Please Note!*

The information contained in this email and any attachments are meant only
for the use of the intended recipient and may be confidential and/or
privileged. If you are reading this communication and are not the intended
recipient, any unauthorized use, disclosure or copying is strictly
prohibited, and may be unlawful. If you received this communication by
mistake, please immediately notify the sender by return email, and delete
the original message and all copies from your system. Thank you for your
cooperation!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20241118/13e05b8f/attachment.html>