Cantero v. Estate of Caswell

In April 2017, Jane Caswell died, leaving a house. Jane’s will appointed her brother, Errol Caswell (defendant), as personal representative. In June 2017, Errol properly published the notice of administration, and the period for creditors to file claims against the estate expired three months later, in September 2017. No creditor claims were filed, and the trial court ordered the sale of Jane’s property. In January 2018, Jorge Cantero (plaintiff) filed a claim against Jane’s estate and sued Errol, asserting that Cantero was entitled to the proceeds from the sale of Jane’s house. Cantero argued that he was a reasonably ascertainable creditor who was entitled to but had not received personal service of the creditor’s notice and thus was not time-barred from making his claim. At an evidentiary hearing, Cantero testified that he had paid the mortgage on the home for five years in the 1990s while in a relationship with Jane, with the understanding that the property would belong to him after Jane died. Cantero admitted that there were no documents to corroborate his claim. The property was undisputably titled in Jane’s name, and Cantero was not mentioned anywhere in Jane’s will. Errol testified that he had received two phone calls from Cantero after Jane died. During the first call, Cantero offered condolences and mentioned that he might have left car parts in the garage. Errol told Cantero that he was free to check the garage. During the second phone call, Cantero advised that the garage had been locked, to which Errol referred Cantero to Errol’s attorney, David Hauser. Hauser testified that he spoke to Cantero for less than one minute. Cantero mentioned only having left some car parts at the home, to which Hauser responded that the family had cleaned out the garage and did not find car parts. The trial court found that Cantero’s testimony was not credible, he was not a reasonably ascertainable creditor, and Errol had complied with his statutory duties. The court struck Cantero’s claim as untimely, and Cantero appealed.