Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington

Re: Personal Representive of an estate

A personal representative of an estate does not have any power whatsoever until the will is filed in the court, the estate is "opened", and the personal representative has filed an oath: then and only then will the court clerk give the personal representative "Letters Testamentary."

Without those letters (really a single piece of paper), the Personal Representative does not have the power to ANYTHING. And if they do anything without proper authority they are personally liable for the errors they commit and they can be sued.

If someone has passed away, the best thing you can do is to talk to an attorney to see if the estate must be opened. In some instances there does not need to be a probate (where there is no real estate and the assets do not exceed $100K), but in that case you still need the correct paperwork to transfer the assets.

Caroline R. Suissa

Re: Personal Representive of an estate

Short answer: no. A PR has to provide an oath to do their job properly, and after the estate is opened, receives from the clerk "letters testementary" which direct third parties - creditors, for example - to do what the P.R. tells them to do in furtherance of closing the estate.

P.R.s do need to be competent (but they can have as much professional help as they need) and they also cannot be felons or convicted of crimes of moral turpitude.

But the County judge is in no position to determine whether they are mentally competent to administer an estate, or not. Someone would have to appear and argue they were not if their competence was an issue.

Hope this helps. Powell