[WSBAPT] Re-opening Administratively Closed Probate

[Eric Nelsen]

It has been a very long time since I dealt with one of these, but as I recall it differs from county to county. At least one county (Pierce maybe?) at one point had a local rule where you needed to submit a specific motion to re-open the probate, while another county (King I think?) would administratively "re-open" the probate if you called the clerk.

The legal effect of "administrative closure" is iffy. I think it really just means the clerk is archiving the file to get its maintenance out of their hair, and it doesn't really mean anything in terms of the ongoing authority of the PR. It's certainly not a valid way to close a probate under the statutes, and obviously it doesn't discharge the PR from their duties or liability for breach of duty.

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>

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Sara Longley
Sent: Thursday, February 6, 2025 10:15 AM
To: wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com
Subject: [WSBAPT] Re-opening Administratively Closed Probate

Hello listmates,

I have been brought in to work on a few different probates where matters stood still for so long that the court administratively closed the probate matter and they needed to be re-opened to complete the remaining work and distribute the assets.

My question is this: does re-opening a closed probate automatically revive the previously issued Letters?  I have been assuming that new Letters need to be issued, but I am curious to know if anyone has a rule or statute I have missed in my research saying otherwise.

Thanks,
Sara


[cid:image001.png at 01DB7881.A2141120]

Sara D. Longley, Attorney

(Main) 360.378.4450 ext. 107

(Direct) 360.468.7230

Slongley at pnwtaxlaw.com<mailto:Slongley at pnwtaxlaw.com>

www.pnwtaxlaw.com<http://www.pnwtaxlaw.com/>



This email and any attachments may contain confidential and/or attorney-client privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient please immediately delete the email and notify the sender.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20250206/ca1b8068/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 12250 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20250206/ca1b8068/image001.png>