How Probate Works in Washington

1) Anyone holding the original will must deliver it within 30 days after learning of the death (40 days if the holder is the named executor, who must deliver it to the court). 2) File a petition in superior court to admit the will and appoint a personal representative (and, if desired, for nonintervention powers). 3) Within 20 days after appointment, give notice of the appointment and pendency of probate to heirs, beneficiaries and nonprobate transferees. 4) Publish and serve notice to creditors. 5) Within three months after appointment, prepare a verified inventory and appraisement (it need not be filed with the court, but must be provided on request to heirs, beneficiaries, claiming creditors and the Department of Revenue). 6) Pay claims and expenses, then close the estate and distribute. A will contest must be filed within four months after the will is admitted or rejected.

Besides the small estate affidavit (personal property up to $100,000), Washington's main simplified option is administration with nonintervention powers: once granted, the personal representative may settle the estate without further court orders. The court must grant nonintervention powers if the will does not forbid them, the estate is solvent, and the petitioner was named in the will, or is a surviving spouse or partner of an intestate decedent with only community property and no descendants from another relationship, or is not a creditor and nonintervention is in the best interests of beneficiaries and creditors.

If the personal representative publishes notice to creditors, a creditor who was given actual notice must present a claim by the later of 30 days after the notice was served or mailed, or four months after first publication. A creditor who was not reasonably ascertainable must present a claim within four months after first publication. If no notice is given, claims are barred 24 months after the date of death. The bar applies to both probate and nonprobate assets.

The person named in the will has first claim; otherwise the court appoints, in order: the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner (or their nominee), next of kin (children, parents, siblings, grandchildren, nieces and nephews), certain fiduciaries, beneficiaries, certain state agencies, and principal creditors. Minors, persons of unsound mind, people convicted of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude, and people recently found to have acted dishonestly or breached a fiduciary duty may not serve. A nonresident may serve if they appoint, in a writing filed with the clerk, an agent for service who lives in the county or is the estate's attorney of record. Bond is required unless the will waives it, the entire estate passes to a surviving spouse or partner, a bank or trust company serves, or the court waives it.

A successor may collect the decedent's personal property by affidavit if the probate estate (not counting the surviving spouse's or domestic partner's community property interest), less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000. The affidavit may be used only after 40 days have passed since death, if no personal representative has been appointed or applied for anywhere, all debts (including funeral and burial expenses) have been paid or provided for, and written notice was given to all other successors at least 10 days earlier. The decedent must have been a Washington resident. The procedure covers personal property only (bank accounts, securities, vehicles and similar); real property cannot be transferred this way. A copy of the affidavit, with the decedent's Social Security number, must be mailed to the Department of Social and Health Services, Office of Financial Recovery.

The superior court of every county has original jurisdiction over the probate of wills and the administration of estates (RCW 11.96A.040). The Washington Courts' Search Case Records site lets the public search cases in municipal, district, superior and appellate courts by court level or by person name; case status may be inaccurate, outcomes are not shown, and some superior courts (including King and Pierce counties) are searched through their own court-run systems. Verify any information against the local court record.