Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington
Family Trust?
My mother died and left nothing but a real estate contract from which she receives $223.40 per month for approx. 7 more years. The money is deposited monthly by the grantee into a checking account which I have access to. I am exexcutor and I have 3 siblings but one received all of the personal property and the others believe he should not share in the income.
What do I need to do to establish an account for the benefit of the 3 of us?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Family Trust?
If your mother still is the owner of record of this real property you need to adjudicate her intestacy or probate her will, because you cannot transfer ownership of real property owned by a decedent without a probate.
It is VERY simple. Don't be alarmed by the people who write books telling you to stay out of probate at all costs, because they are from California and our probate process is much simpler and much less expensive.
Once you open probate you can open an estate checking account. If you decide to sell the house, the proceeds from the sale go into that account. Once you determine that there are no creditors looking to be paid, you can distribute the funds and close the probate.
In Renton, Sean O'Neil has a good probate and trust and estate practice. Call him. You can find his contact information on avvo or wsba dot org.
Elizabeth Powell