Notice to Creditors

[tinat]

washington state

mom's 2 debts have been paid. there are no other creditors. is notice to creditors absolutely nessesary in this case?
also, when can i close estate? everything is done except tax filing and distribution of retirement and life insurance funds (which is outside of probate and the beneficiaries have until 12/2002 to decide what they choose to do)
also, i submitted copy of will to probate since i needed letters testamontary to access safe deposit box to retrieve orginal. does original have to be submitted?

thank you in advance,

tina

 

[advisor10]

12-31-2001

DEAR TINAT:

Have you, or anyone else, filed papers with the probate court to be administrator of her estate? If you haven't done this, then you need to do it. I'm guessing you haven't done this, or you would have known that you would have automatically received letters testamentary so you would then have the legal authority to go ahead and claim all her assets.

You just can't automatically assume that there will be no more creditors--you have to pay for a small classified ad (called proof of publication) to be published in the local daily or legal newspapers, that notifies the public that the estate has been opened and gives the address of the executor so that any creditors who see the ad can send the bill to the executor's address for payment. There is a small chance that some of her creditors, if any, might not know she is deceased.

How much is the estate worth?

It is a mistake and possibly illegal to submit a copy of a will to probate, and I'm surprised that they accepted it (if in fact they did). You need to correct that mistake by submitting the original as soon as you can.

advisor

 

[tinat]

thank you for your quick response.

i already went to probate court and was appointed personal representative. the judge eccepted a copy of the will, with a note explaining that i needed the authority to retreive the orginal from the safe deposit box. (now that i know that i have to turn it in, i will)

i went to the newspaper and was told that not everyone submits a notice to creditors. if they did, there would be as many of those as obituaries.

my mom had no debts. she owned everything free and clear. (with the exception of a credit card, that has been paid and account closed, and a loan on the house, that has been paid and account closed)

The estate, without retirement and life insurance, is worth about 150k. with the above it's worth about 350k.

thank you again in advance,

tinat