Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington

Re: Death of Leasee and Termination of Lease

First, my condolences to you on the loss of your father.

As for termination of the lease, I would need to read it to know for sure what your rights are, however, if your parents leased the property as a married couple, the death of one will not void the lease, so you are good on that front.

However, the more pressing concern will be that your family as a whole is unable to afford the rent without your father's income. There is no law that will allow the rent to be reduced or to give you a period of time to go rent free based upon your loss. However, if your father was employed, you should immediately start to look into whether he had any life insurance or death benefits through his employer which might at least help pay the rent until you and your family as a unit can decide how to proceed.

Also, since I do not know how your father passed away, if it was in the course of working or through an accident of some type, you should be consulting an attorney to determine if anyone has financial liability for his death that might lead to financial compensation for your mother and you and your siblings.

In the very short run, if there is no way to pay rent another month, you should get in touch with the landlord and let them know the situation. Ask to break the lease given what has happened. Most landlords will agree to do so because they are decent people and know that you have suffered so much already and frankly because they know that you cannot afford it anymore so they would just rather have someone there who can afford it.

This is just a starting point, but if you follow through with these suggestions, I think you'll at least be headed in the right direction and doing what you can under the circumstances. Again, my condolences on your loss.