[WSBAPT] Secured Creditor/Deficiency

[Joshua McKarcher]

I know I'm unpopular with some, but "in my view": The PR was on notice and owed actual notice to creditor as soon as earliest of late payment notice arriving in decedent's name or PR's name referencing decedent or sitting on decedent's countertop the day PR walked into the house to "check things out" or in decedent's papers in the house that PR or his/her agent was charged with at least attempting to look through for such things. I just don't think this system was designed to game creditors, who are sometimes "ma and pa" and not always Big Bad Banks. Have a good weekend! Best, Josh

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of steve at aitalaw.com
Sent: Friday, October 3, 2025 11:16 AM
To: 'WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv' <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Secured Creditor/Deficiency

This is a new one for me.

I know that RCW 11.40.135 says that a secured creditor's right to realize upon the security is not affected by whether or not the creditor filed a claim. But what about if there's a deficiency?

In this case, a vehicle that was owned by the Decedent was in the possession of the Decedent's girlfriend, who refused to return it to the Personal Representative. No payments were made after the Decedent's death (the PR didn't even know that the car belonged to his dad, he thought it was his dad's girlfriend's car until the late payment notices started coming), so the lender repossessed and sold the car for about $21,000. The loan had a balance of about $31,000, so now the lender is demanding payment of the $10,000 deficiency from the Estate, but the creditors' claim period has expired. Is the lender entitled to the deficiency without filing a claim? Is that part of "realizing" upon the security?

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P. Stephen Aita
Attorney at Law
Admitted in Washington & Idaho

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