In Anderson v. Dussault, the Washington Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, which had affirmed dismissal of a 20-year old plaintiff’s breach of trust action against the trustee and her malpractice action against the attorney responsible for the trust accounting. A special needs trust had been set up for the plaintiff after she was severely injured at age six. The Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act (TEDRA), chapter 11.96A RCW, has a three-year statute of limitations for beneficiaries to bring actions for breach of trust. The statute begins to run when the beneficiary’s personal representative is sent a report disclosing the potential for a breach of trust claim. Notice of the report is imputed to a beneficiary minor with a guardian ad litem. Under TEDRA, appointment of a guardian ad litem is discretionary. Because the plaintiff was not appointed a guardian, she did not receive legal notice of her potential claim – or the right to demand an accounting under the Trustee’s Accounting Act – until she was 18. The TEDRA statute of limitations did not begin to run until that point, which made plaintiff’s action timely.
