Trust and Estate

In 1999 the Washington State Legislature passed the Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act. This act calls for mediation to take place in trust or estate matters prior to the dispute being resolved through a hearing in Superior Court. Any party involved in a trust or estate matter can request that mediation take place. The Dispute Resolution Center of Yakima and Kittitas Counties has mediators trained to assist parties involved in trust and estate disputes and would be happy to talk with parties or their attorneys about what would be involved in setting up a mediation. As with all our other mediation work, we utilize a facilitative approach to mediation that allows the parties to work out their disagreements together, with the help of the mediators.

For more information on the Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act, one can access the text of the act by going to the following link http://search.leg.wa.gov/pub/textsearch/default.asp and typing in 11.96A, clicking on RCW & Dispositions, and then clicking on “search”. The section that outlines setting up a mediation is 11.96A.300. To return to our site close the new window.

For attorneys or parties setting up a mediation session, we will need contact information for all parties to be a part of the mediation. From all parties participating in a mediation, we will need from them or their attorneys a memorandum outlining the issues they believe need to be addressed at the mediation, their position on each issue, an honest evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of their positions (and the other parties’ positions), and their proposal for a resolution of the issues that may reasonably be reached at the mediation. A sample memorandum from a fictional scenario can be found by clicking here.”