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<p>Law Office of<br>
<strong>F.ANDREKITA SILVA</strong><br>
<strong>____________________________________________ </strong><br>
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October 7, 2021<br>
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Dalynne,<br>
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I have never tried to make the argument you suggest but it seems like it would be a really difficult one to make.<br>
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If you have not read In Re Marriage of Himes (1988) , it is a divorce case but you might read that case to see if there is any language in it or if it gives you any ideas that might help you develop a theory or policy argument. <br>
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Before you get to policy arguments, you would have an evidentiary barrier. To prove the marriage is defunct, you would need testimony by someone. The dead man’s statute would preclude a party with an interest from testifying about their transactions with the deceased. In the Himes case, the Petitioner was able to get the court to vacate a divorce order after Ex-H’s death where she’d been deprived of due process by her exH’s fraud. Deceased X had secured an order to publish notice, rather than giving ex-W actual notice using fraudulent representations to the court. There, Petitioner was able to prove his fraud by objective facts placed before the court.<br>
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If the kids had evidence that deceased wife had tried to divorce her spouse- had done an exhaustive search and couldn’t find him, ran out of money so couldn’t ask for an order permitting notice by publication, etc. and eventually just abandoned her efforts, AND surviving husband admits marriage was irretrievably broken, maybe you would at least have some evidence that the marriage was defunct.<br>
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But, a defunct marriage requires both parties to have abandoned the marriage. Parties are separated for all sorts of reasons, and any small benefit to either party for not divorcing each other can contraindicate that the marriage was defunct.<br>
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Even if you were to show the marriage were defunct, I think you’d need to come up with some pretty hefty policy arguments. It seems like the court would not want to give a person who never initiated a divorce greater rights than a person has who HAS actually initiated a divorce. If a party files for divorce, then dies, the marriage abates (terminates by operation of law). So, the surviving spouse, unless they murdered the deceased, has the same rights of inheritance and is no different than a surviving spouse of a good marriage. <br>
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It seems unfair that the surviving estranged spouse gets to share in the deceased’s estate. But, I think it happens all the time. Maybe you can do a bunch of research, develop an argument and then negotiate a settlement with surviving husband?<br>
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<br>
andrekita<br>
Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva<br>
1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 2000<br>
Seattle, Washington 98101<br>
206-224-8288<br>
www.seattle-silvalaw.com<br>
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Quoting Roger Hawkes <<a href="mailto:Roger@law-hawks.com">Roger@law-hawks.com</a>>:</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I think our whole code re wills and probate needs revision; there is no reason to apply the marital interest provision, for example, in the case of folks whose marriage has been in name only for ten years! And there is no longer a reason to have two witnesses ‘in the presence’ of testator when witnessing a will; why not have proof of testator’s intentions provable the same way other important facts are proven??</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Roger Hawkes, WSBA # 5173</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Sky Valley Law</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">For incoming mail: Box 351, Sultan 98294</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Or other places to be arranged</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> wsbapt-bounces@lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces@lists.wsbarppt.com> <b>On Behalf Of</b> Marcus J. Fry<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, October 7, 2021 2:34 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt@lists.wsbarppt.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [WSBAPT] Defunct marriage in probate</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">There is law but it is in the context of personal injury claims in attempting to allocate an award between spouse and children. I haven’t seen it applied to defeat intestacy statute and community property claims. Washington Practice- Family and Community Law covers it. Also see Estate of Petelle from Div 1, 2019.</p>
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<span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><strong><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Marcus J. Fry</span></strong><br>
Attorney | Witherspoon • Kelley<br>
<a href="mailto:mjf@witherspoonkelley.com">mjf@witherspoonkelley.com</a> | <a href="https://www.witherspoonkelley.com/marcus-j-fry">Attorney Profile</a> | <a href="https://www.witherspoonkelley.com/s/mfj.vcf">vCard</a></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:8.0pt;color:#828282"><em><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this email and any accompanying attachment(s) is intended only for the use of the intended recipient and may be confidential and/or privileged. If any reader of this communication is not the intended recipient, unauthorized use, disclosure or copying is strictly prohibited, and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by return email, and delete the original message and all copies from your system. Thank you.</span></em></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> <a href="mailto:wsbapt-bounces@lists.wsbarppt.com">wsbapt-bounces@lists.wsbarppt.com</a> <<a href="mailto:wsbapt-bounces@lists.wsbarppt.com">wsbapt-bounces@lists.wsbarppt.com</a>> <b>On Behalf Of</b> Dalynne Singleton<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, October 7, 2021 2:16 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <<a href="mailto:wsbapt@lists.wsbarppt.com">wsbapt@lists.wsbarppt.com</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [WSBAPT] Defunct marriage in probate</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Has anyone argued that a “defunct marriage” is enough proof to have the spouse get nothing from estate? I saw on listserve mention of making this argument.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Separated over 10 years and had no contact and then wife dies with home on which she is sole owner but as her separate property.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">I’d love to see any briefing or arguments to be made. I have done some research on defunct marriage but so much is directed to family law, I’m not sure the argument is strong enough to have the spouse get nothing.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">There is a retirement which was just started and now has over $200k and husband is trying to get 50% as well as 50% of the net value of the home.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Two adult daughters are outraged by this.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Dalynne Singleton</span></i></b></p>
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