In a case of first impression, California's Fourth District Court of Appeal recently held in Allen v. Stoddard that Code of Civil Procedure §366.3, which requires that claims against a decedent based on a promise to make a distribution at death be brought within one year of the decedent's death, trumps Probate Code §9353, which requires that a creditor of a decedent's estate file suit within 90 days of the date that notice is given of rejection of a claim. While the court's decision undoubtedly serves the interests of equity, it misapplies the law and entirely negates the purpose and intent behind the creditor's claim provisions in the Probate Code.
The court readily admits the problematic implications of its holding, which it concedes is both ambiguous and inchoate: "[W]e recognize that by deciding only the case before us we may leave the relationship between [Probate Code] §9351 and [Code of Civil Procedure] §366.3 … a bit wibbly wobbly in certain particulars … Nor do we deal with the obvious problem of an estate that somehow tries to run out the clock on §366.3."
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