Washington holds ‘probates for profit’ defendants accountable

A King County judge has ordered two people and their companies to pay more than $7 million after finding them liable for operating a statewide, multi-year scheme to gain control of deceased strangers' estates and divert money away from their rightful heirs.

King County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Parisien found John B. Elliott, Shanelle Sunde, and their companies, Probate & Administration Services LLC, Aurora Creek Ranch LLC, and Sunde Consulting LLC, liable under the Washington Consumer Protection Act and state probate laws, saying they engaged in unfair and deceptive acts. She ordered them to pay more than $7 million in penalties, restitution, legal fees, and costs. The court also issued a permanent injunction to prohibit them from acting as probate administrators in the future.

Probate is the legal process by which a person's property is redistributed after death. When someone dies with a will in place, they have usually designated someone to be an executor to take care of the probate process of selling property, paying creditors, and distributing the remaining assets to heirs. In instances where a person dies without a will, a court may appoint a probate administrator to take care of that same process.

Between March 2019 and January 2024, the defendants used legal loopholes to convince courts to appoint them as third-party probate administrators of the estates of about 200 deceased strangers, with most of the cases filed in Kitsap County. They then sold at least 90 estate homes collectively worth more than $28 million, collecting large and unjustified commissions and fees for themselves, sometimes moving money between various trust accounts to cover their tracks. Elliott also took or sold multiple personal items from the estates, including a Jaguar sedan, a Mazda Miata, a Rolex, jewelry, firearms, furs, and furniture. Rightful heirs were often unaware of these probate cases and the associated profits the defendants were deriving from them. Details of the operation are included in the judge's findings of fact and conclusions of law.

"People shouldn't have to worry about loopholes in the law that leave them or their family members vulnerable to fraud and abuse - especially during times of grief," said Brown. "I'm happy that the work of our office will provide some solace to families."

The sale of a childhood home

One of the heirs who stands to recover some funds through the judgment is Sandra Allen, who lost her younger sister, Judy Bass, to colon cancer in 2016. The two had grown up in Burien and Bass lived in their childhood home until her death.

The defendants used the probate system to get control of Bass' property without Allen's knowledge. They received $110,000 through the sale of the Bass house and managed to drain more than three quarters of that money before Judge Parisien froze the remaining assets. Allen will now receive the remaining $25,000.

"You think how many people they've done this to - it makes you mad," Allen said, adding that she felt grateful when she heard that the Attorney General's Office was pursuing this case. "I was so happy when I found that out, because I thought, `What is the average person going to do?'"

Judge Parisien has ordered the defendants to pay more than $4 million in restitution within 30 days of the judgments, which were filed in the court on Oct. 3. Once funds are collected, the Attorney General's Office will manage distributions to the affected estates and consumers.

The defendants must also pay $3 million in penalties, attorney fees, and costs to the State of Washington.

The judgments resolve the state's claims against the primary defendants in a case brought by the Attorney General's Office earlier this year.

The Consumer Protection Division is largely funded through money recovered from businesses that have violated Washington's Consumer Protection Act and similar laws, not by taxpayers. Specifically, a significant portion of Consumer Protection recoveries goes into the Attorney General's Civil Justice Operating Fund, which supports the Consumer Protection, Antitrust, Wing Luke Civil Rights, Environmental Protection divisions, Medicaid Fraud Control, and Complex Litigation divisions of the Office.

Assistant Attorneys General Matt Geyman, Ben Carr, and Lauren Holzer, Paralegals Miranda Marti and Christopher Kiefer, and Investigators Steuart Markley and Michelle Bigos-Taylor are handling the case for the Attorney General's Office.

A copy of the judgment against Elliott is available here, and a copy of the judgment against Sunde is available here.

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Washington's Attorney General serves the people and the State of Washington. As the state's largest law firm, the Attorney General's Office provides legal representation to every state agency, board, and commission in Washington. Additionally, the Office serves the people directly by enforcing consumer protection, civil rights, and environmental protection laws. The Office also prosecutes elder abuse, Medicaid fraud, and handles sexually violent predator cases in 38 of Washington's 39 counties. Visit https://www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.

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