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<p class="MsoNormal">Mates-<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p>I’ve yet to see a listserve discussion of the Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion in In re Marriage of Watanabe.
<a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.courts.wa.gov%2Fopinions%2Fpdf%2F1000456.pdf&data=04%7C01%7Cjburnett%40reedlongyearlaw.com%7C01139fcd0e8249f33aca08da142969ef%7Cc42db07999e840ff9b106ba95e2918a6%7C0%7C0%7C637844465340914312%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=Z9z%2F6ffPxm%2F4pfJ1Qm2p1u9Ji7sR3izfALpH2drujNI%3D&reserved=0">
https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/1000456.pdf</a> I’m curious to hear the analysis and opinions of my peers. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u>FACTS<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Husband and wife seek a loan to purchase a horse property and offer Wife’s separate real property as security. The bank agreed to make the loan, but only on the condition that Wife add Husband to title of the property offered as security,
since Husband had no credit history. Wife quitclaimed her interest in her separate property to herself and Husband “to establish community property.”
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the admission of extrinsic evidence to determine whether Wife “had the intent to gift her separate property to the community.” According to the Supremes “the inquiry here was not whether there was
a valid quitclaim deed but, rather, whether or not Pedersen had the intent to gift her separate property to the community. The extrinsic evidence was not admitted to dispute what the deed actually says, and the title was not altered here. The evidence was
used solely to show Pedersen’s intent, which the trial court used to determine the nature of the property.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s a unanimous opinion, so I guess it’s super-obvious to the nine justices who signed it, but it’s a mystery to me how the extrinsic evidence was admitted for any purpose other than contradicting the intent stated in the deed itself:
“to establish community property.” Between <i>Hudesman</i>, <i>Borghi</i> and <i>
Watanabe</i>, it feels like Washington courts are pretty far down an interpretive dead-end road when it comes to interpreting the effect of deeds—how can anyone rely on a deed anymore without first contacting the signer and asking them if they intended to do
what they said they intended to do in the deed itself?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#4E4848">Jason</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#4E4848"> </span><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#4E4848">W.</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#4E4848"> </span><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#4E4848">Burnett<br>
</span></b><span style="font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#4E4848">Attorney at Law</span><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#4E4848"><br>
</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#4E4848">Reed Longyear Malnati Corwin & Burnett, PLLC<br>
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</span><i><o:p></o:p></i></p>
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