Washington: Affidavit of Surviving Joint Tenant Title-Clearance Requirements

Requirements one by one

Covered survivorship title

Washington's joint-tenancy statute makes survivorship automatic when the
creating written instrument expressly declares a joint tenancy. RCW § 64.28.010
says the property passes to the survivor without the cost or delay
of probate, while preserving each tenant's unilateral power to sever before
death.

For spouses and registered domestic partners, § 64.28.040 treats a joint-tenancy
interest as community property for other purposes but still passes it to the
survivor under the joint-tenancy rule. Washington does not supply a separate
tenancy-by-the-entirety route: § 11.04.071 abolishes survivorship as an incident
of that ownership form.

A different survivorship structure is the community property agreement under
§ 26.16.120. Both spouses or domestic partners may agree in writing that covered
community property will be disposed of at either party's death. The post-death
recording statute treats that recorded agreement separately from a joint-tenancy
deed.

Instrument, death evidence, and offices

RCW § 82.45.197 gives the statewide post-death route. For joint tenants with
right of survivorship and remainder interests, the required documentation is a
certified copy of the death certificate. It does not require a separate affidavit
signed by the survivor.

If property passes under a community property agreement, the package instead
contains two items: a copy of the recorded agreement and a certified copy of the
death certificate. The documentation is first provided to the county treasurer
and must also be recorded with the county auditor. The statute states no deadline
for either step.

Execution formalities

There is no new affidavit to swear, acknowledge, or witness for the ordinary
joint-tenancy route. The post-death instrument is the certified death certificate,
and § 82.45.197 does not name an affiant or require a survivor's signature.

The community property agreement has its own lifetime formalities. RCW
§ 26.16.120 requires both spouses or domestic partners to execute a written
instrument that is witnessed, acknowledged, and certified in the same manner as
a real-estate deed. At death, the recorder receives a copy of that already
recorded agreement with the certified death certificate; the survivor does not
execute a new statutory affidavit under § 82.45.197(1)(a).

Tax and recording effect

The treasurer step is part of the real estate excise tax documentation. RCW
§ 82.45.010(3)(a) excludes transfers by gift, devise, or inheritance from the
chapter's definition of a taxable sale, and § 82.45.197 identifies the documents
used to support that treatment.

Recording does not make the death certificate a deed. Title has already passed
under the survivorship incident described in § 64.28.010. RCW § 82.45.197
places the certified death evidence in the county record and supports the tax
exclusion, but it does not call the filing a conveyance, guarantee marketable
title, or make the creating instrument immune from a severance or validity dispute.

What trips people up

The joint-tenant route is not a lack-of-probate affidavit. RCW § 82.45.197
requires a lack-of-probate affidavit for specified heir and
unprobated-will transfers, but subdivision (1)(d) gives joint tenants a different
route: a certified death certificate.

A community property agreement needs the recorded agreement too. A death
certificate alone is enough for the joint-tenancy route. Under subdivision
(1)(a), property passing by community property agreement requires both the
recorded agreement copy and the certified death certificate.

Tenancy by the entirety is not a Washington survivorship shortcut. RCW
§ 11.04.071 abolished survivorship as an incident of that form. The relevant
statewide structures are an express joint tenancy or a qualifying community
property agreement.

Common questions

Must the survivor sign a Washington affidavit? Not for the statutory
joint-tenancy route. RCW § 82.45.197(1)(d) names only a certified copy of the
death certificate.

Where does the death certificate go? Provide it to the county treasurer for
the inheritance real-estate-excise-tax documentation and record it with the
county auditor.

Does the same rule apply to a community property agreement? The offices are
the same, but the documents differ. A copy of the recorded agreement accompanies
the certified death certificate.

Does recording the death certificate itself transfer title? No. RCW
§ 64.28.010 describes the joint-tenancy interest as passing to the survivor.
Recording documents the death and supports the tax treatment; it is not a new
conveyance.

Statutes and sources

• Wash. Rev. Code §§ 64.28.010 and 64.28.040 — express joint tenancy,
  automatic survivorship, severability, and spouses' or domestic partners'
  joint-tenancy character. https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.28.010
  and https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.28.040 (accessed
  2026-08-03).
• Wash. Rev. Code § 11.04.071 — survivorship as an incident of tenancy by
  the entirety is abolished.
  https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.04.071 (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Wash. Rev. Code § 26.16.120 — community property agreements effective at
  death and their execution formalities.
  https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=26.16.120 (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Wash. Rev. Code §§ 82.45.010 and 82.45.197 — inheritance exclusion,
  certified-death-certificate and recorded-agreement documentation, county
  treasurer, and county auditor recording.
  https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=82.45.197 (accessed 2026-08-03).