Notice to creditors when personal representative resigns, dies, or is removed—Limit tolled by vacancy

(1) If a personal representative has given notice under RCW 11.40.020 and then resigns, dies, or is removed, the successor personal representative shall: (a) Publish notice of the vacancy and succession for two successive weeks in the legal newspaper in which notice was published under RCW 11.40.020 if the vacancy occurred within twenty-four months after the decedent's date of death; and(b) Provide actual notice of the vacancy and succession to a creditor if: (i) The creditor filed a claim and the claim had not been accepted or rejected by the prior personal representative; or (ii) the creditor's claim was rejected and the vacancy occurred within thirty days after rejection of the claim. (2) The time between the resignation, death, or removal and first publication of the vacancy and succession or, in the case of actual notice, the mailing of the notice of vacancy and succession must be added to the time within which a claim must be presented or a suit on a rejected claim must be filed. This section does not extend the twenty-four month self-executing bar under RCW 11.40.051.