In Re the Estate of Blessing

¶1 This case involves whether the children of the decedent’s predeceased spouse can be considered “stepchildren” under the wrongful death recovery statute, RCW 4.20.020. The decedent, Audrey Blessing, and the children’s father were married in 1964. The children’s father died in 1994. Blessing died in 2007. Now, in this wrongful death suit brought on behalf of her estate, the estate argues the children ceased being her stepchildren when their father died, 13 years before she died. The trial court, relying on the close relationship the children and the decedent maintained up until the…