Do You Have a Claim in a Probate?

             The answer to that question may not be as simple as you might think.  Usually, you know if someone owes you money or some other obligation such as a personal guaranty of a third party’s debt.  But, what if the obligation is not yet due and payable when that person dies?  You might think that you don’t have a claim because the obligation is not yet due.  However, you could lose your ability to collect if you don’t act promptly after that person dies.

            Washington’s probate statutes include a section known as the “non-claim statute,” which provides that a person having a claim against the deceased person may not maintain an action on the claim unless a personal representative has been appointed and the claimant has presented a claim as set forth in the chapter of the probate statutes dealing with claims.  Another provision of the statutes requires claims to be in writing and, if the claim is contingent or not yet due, to set forth the nature of any uncertainty or the date when the claim will become due.  Yet another provision sets forth the deadline for filing creditor’s claims against a probate estate.

            A recent case in the Washington Court of Appeals held that a creditor who had not filed a claim in the probate could not enforce a personal guaranty signed by the deceased even though the guaranteed obligation was not due at the time of the deceased’s death and was not due at the expiration of the time to file creditor’s claims in the estate.  In that case, a corporation entered into a 10 year lease as tenant.  The corporation’s president personally guaranteed the corporation’s obligations under the lease.  The guaranty provided that, in the event of the guarantor’s death, the guaranty would remain in full force and effect and be binding upon the guarantor’s estate.  Over three years into the lease term, the corporation’s president died and a probate of his estate was commenced.  At the time of the president’s death, the corporation was in compliance with the lease.  The personal representative of the president’s estate published a notice to creditors and sent a copy to the corporation’s landlord.  The landlord did not file a claim before the claim filing period expired.  Six months after the claim filing period expired, the corporation partially defaulted under the lease.  Five months after that, the landlord filed a court action to enforce the president’s personal guaranty.  The Court of Appeals upheld dismissal of the landlord’s court action because the landlord failed to comply with the “non-claim statute” even though the corporation was not in default under the lease when the claim filing period expired.

            Application of the “non-claim statute” is not limited to personal guarantys of the deceased.  It can apply to various obligations that the deceased incurred during his or her lifetime, whether or not those obligations are due at the time of the deceased’s death or at the expiration of the creditor’s claims filing period in a probate of the deceased’s estate.

            If we can assist you with asserting or defending against such a creditor’s claim, please contact us at 425-776-4100.