CORRECTIONS VERY IMPORTANT!

By Tribal News

For Puyallup Tribal News
Published on: October 30, 2008

By the Legal Department of the Puyallup Indian Tribe

The October 16, 2008, edition of the Puyallup Tribal News had on page 6 an article that contains inaccurate legal advice. The article, titled “Leaving Those Behind With Love and Responsibility,” was written by a non-lawyer. Readers SHOULD NOT rely on the article for information or advice on writing wills or handling probate.

There are two points we want to emphasize:

1. The article contains quite a bit of legal advice; some of that advice is not wise to follow; some of the advice is flat out wrong.

2. It IS very important for each person to have a will. The way to make sure you have a valid will, however, is not to find a form and fill in the blanks. The way to be sure you have a valid will that accomplishes your goals is to go to a qualified, experienced attorney and have him or her prepare the will for you.

Estate planning is an extremely complicated area of law. That is true for everyone, but particularly true for Indian people. There are federal laws that apply only to wills and probate for Indian people. It is important to find and use an attorney who has experience not only with wills but specifically with preparing wills for Indian people.

Again, we would advise not relying on any newspaper article for legal advice but instead talk with an attorney. A couple of the more serious errors in the article are the following:

A holographic will is NOT valid under the laws of the Puyallup Tribe and is NOT valid under the laws of the State of Washington. So if you live on the Puyallup Reservation or anywhere else in the State of Washington, a holographic will that you write will NOT be valid.

In the paragraph titled, “How do I get a will?” two of the three suggestions are poor choices. DO have an attorney prepare your will. DO NOT get a form and “just fill in the blanks.” DO NOT buy a computer program for $35 (or any other price) and take whatever the computer spits out.

We spoke with the attorney who maintains the website mentioned in the article. Yes, it is an estate planning attorney who owns the website. But he agreed with us wholeheartedly that using a form is NOT a good idea; an attorney is a MUCH better way to get a will prepared. He said he maintains the website because some people absolutely refuse to go to an attorney, or as we would phrase it, insist on shooting themselves in the foot. But he also said he sees problems in probate court all the time with wills that people put together by filling in the blanks on a form.

DO NOT rely on the information about probate procedures contained in the section of the article titled, “Bottom-line.” For example, even if you live in Washington, Superior Court may or may not be the place to have a will probated. Depending on the situation, Puyallup Tribal Court or the Bureau of Indian Affairs may be the appropriate place.

Another primary shortcoming of the article is that there are many important topics related to wills and probate that are not mentioned. A qualified attorney can describe to you these important considerations. BE SURE to have your will done by an attorney. Having a will prepared is not all that expensive, and the money it does cost is money VERY well spent, in order to avoid problems for your relatives after you have passed away.

If you need a referral to an attorney to prepare a will for you, call the Legal Department at (253) 573-7877.

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