Washington Probate Procedure

UPDATED: Jul 16, 2021

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Jeffrey Johnson is a legal writer with a focus on personal injury. He has worked on personal injury and sovereign immunity litigation in addition to experience in family, estate, and criminal law. He earned a J.D. from the University of Baltimore and has worked in legal offices and non-profits in Maryland, Texas, and North Carolina. He has also earned an MFA in screenwriting from Chapman Univer...

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UPDATED: Jul 16, 2021

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UPDATED: Jul 16, 2021

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It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right legal decisions.

We strive to help you make confident insurance and legal decisions. Finding trusted and reliable insurance quotes and legal advice should be easy. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.

UPDATED: Jul 16, 2021Fact Checked

Washington probate procedure is fairly uncomplicated, but if you don’t meet the basic requirements for simple administration of the will, or if there are extraordinary circumstances in your case, there can be complications in the probate process.

The Washington probate process starts with filing a case cover sheet, which you can get by contacting the clerk of the Superior Court with jurisdiction over your case. You will then begin the process of signing and filing a number of documents. First, you’ll file the decedent’s actual will in probate court. Next, you’ll complete and sign a form entitled the Petition for Probate of Will, Letters Testamentary, and Nonintervention Powers, and draft a proposed court order called an Order Admitting Will to Probate and Granting Letters Testamentary and Nonintervention Powers. You’ll also need to sign and file an Oath of Personal Representative (With Will) form and have your signature notarized.

The next step in the process is to provide notice to the decedent’s creditors of the pending probate. File a Probate Notice to Creditors form with the court and then send a copy of the filing for publication to a local newspaper. Be sure to contact the probate clerk of the court in the county with jurisdiction over your case and confirm that you have met your county’s specific requirements for all the above-mentioned forms. Getting an expert’s help with these filings is not unusual, so contacting an experienced Washington probate attorney may be a good idea if the paperwork gets confusing or if you have a complicated situation and need answers.

Procedure for Intestate Washington Decedents

Note that if the decedent died intestate (that is, without a will) you obviously will not be filing any will with the probate court. Instead, you will file the following forms in place of the above-mentioned ones: a Petition for Letters of Administration & Nonintervention Powers, an Order Granting Letters of Administration & Nonintervention Powers, and an Oath of Personal Representative (Without Will).

Once you have filled out all the appropriate paperwork and gone to probate court, you can usually expect the probate estate to be closed within 12 months. There are exceptions to this, including those cases where an estate tax return must be filed (usually if the value of the estate exceeds $2,000,000), or where there are problems resolving debts with the decedent’s creditors. If you experience problems like these, or anticipate having issues with debts and estate taxes, you can file a request for an extension of time of up to 36 months to close the probate estate. If you have more questions about the Washington probate process, or would like help in going through each step of the process, you should seek the services of a Washington probate attorney.

For more information, check out our article on the Basics of Washington Probate.

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Jeffrey Johnson

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Jeffrey Johnson is a legal writer with a focus on personal injury. He has worked on personal injury and sovereign immunity litigation in addition to experience in family, estate, and criminal law. He earned a J.D. from the University of Baltimore and has worked in legal offices and non-profits in Maryland, Texas, and North Carolina. He has also earned an MFA in screenwriting from Chapman Univer...

Insurance Lawyer

Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about legal topics and insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything legal and insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by experts.

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