Executor and Personal-Representative Bond Requirements in Washington
At a glance
| Governing law and default bond rule | In all other cases, unless court-waived, personal representative gives court-directed bond or other security; will, spouse/domestic-partner, and bank/trust-company exceptions apply (RCW 11.28.185) |
|---|---|
| Covered representative and proceeding | Ordinary executor, administrator, and administrator with will annexed within Title 11's personal-representative rules; special administrators remain outside this survey (RCW 11.02.005(15)) |
| Will waiver and limits | Will terms need only manifest intent that the appointed representative furnish no bond or other security; court may still require bond/additional bond after appointment (RCW 11.28.185) |
| Beneficiary, heir, or distributee waiver | No general beneficiary waiver; separate exception when surviving spouse/domestic partner is representative and court finds entire estate, after expenses and creditor claims, distributable to that person (RCW 11.28.185) |
| Demand and court discretion | Interested person—heir, devisee, beneficiary, legatee, or creditor with duly served/filed claim—may challenge bond/sureties; court may act on petition or own motion and later add, reduce, or substitute security (RCW 11.02.005(10); 11.28.185, .190, .210) |
| Amount, property base, and reduction | No ordinary formula: court directs amount. Special § 11.28.120(3) appointee ordinarily bonds commensurate with identified major probate assets; court may reduce on proper showing (RCW 11.28.185) |
| Surety, collateral, deposits, and corporate exceptions | Court directs surety or sureties and may substitute other adequate security/financial arrangements; authorized bank/trust company gives no bond, and specified professional entity gets special-appointee exception (RCW 11.28.185; 11.36.010(2)-(3)) |
| Nonresident and special qualification rules | Nonresident appoints county-resident agent or estate attorney for service and must file court-approved bond unless waived; post-90-day catch-all appointee faces special bond rule unless specified entity (RCW 11.36.010(6); 11.28.120(3), .185) |
| Filing timing, letters, suspension, removal, and lapse | Required Washington bond and oath precede letters; later new/additional bond has no fixed statutory cure or automatic lapse stated. General revocation after notice/hearing ends powers immediately (RCW 11.28.170, .185, .250) |
Requirements one by one
The default is court-directed security, with three principal exceptions
Under RCW 11.28.185, an ordinary personal representative gives the bond or other security, in the amount and with the surety or sureties the court directs, unless the court waives it. The section itself removes the requirement in three settings: the will manifests an intent against bond or other security; a surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner is the representative and the court finds the entire estate, after expenses and creditor claims, will pass to that person; or an authorized bank or trust company is appointed.
The will need not use a quoted statutory formula, but the intent must concern the appointed personal representative's bond or other security. Even after an initial waiver, the same section permits the court to require a bond or additional bond at any time after appointment.
Title 11's definition in RCW 11.02.005(15) includes an executor and an administrator within “personal representative.” The broader definition also lists special offices that remain outside this ordinary-qualification survey.
Amount, sureties, and substitute protection stay under court control
Washington supplies no property-value formula for the ordinary bond. Section 11.28.185 directs the court to set the amount and surety or sureties, permits a reduction on a proper showing, and allows other security or financial arrangements the court considers adequate to protect estate assets.
An authorized bank or trust company gives no bond. RCW 11.36.010(2)-(3) also identifies state trust companies, authorized national banks, and specified attorney-owned professional entities that may serve as personal representatives, but the general no-bond sentence in § 11.28.185 is limited to the bank or trust company. The professional entities matter separately to the special post-90-day appointment rule.
Interested persons can challenge both amount and surety sufficiency
Under RCW 11.02.005(10), an interested person includes an heir, devisee, beneficiary, legatee, or a creditor whose claim has been duly served and filed, as well as an attorney or fiduciary for one of them.
Section 11.28.210 lets any interested person complain by verified petition or otherwise about the sufficiency of the bond or sureties. The court may also act on its own motion and order a new or additional bond. A narrower procedure in RCW 11.28.190 uses an affidavit that one or more sureties are worth less than represented; after examination, an insufficient bond requires sufficient additional security.
Nonresidents and delayed catch-all appointees have extra rules
Under RCW 11.36.010(6), a nonresident may serve after appointing in writing either a service agent who resides in the probate county or the estate's attorney of record. The appointment is filed with the clerk. Unless the bond is waived under § 11.28.185, the nonresident must file a court-approved bond.
If the priority holders do not petition for more than 90 days after death, RCW 11.28.120(3) permits appointment of any suitable person. Section 11.28.185 requires that appointee to give bond commensurate with the identified major probate assets unless the appointee is an entity described in § 11.36.010(2) or (3).
Bond and oath precede letters; later revocation is a separate decision
A required bond must be executed to Washington before letters testamentary or of administration issue and must condition faithful performance of the trust under RCW 11.28.185. Section 11.28.170 separately requires the personal representative—or an officer for a qualifying bank or trust company—to take and file the oath before letters.
The bond statutes permit later new or additional security but state no fixed cure period or automatic lapse of letters. RCW 11.28.250 supplies the separate general revocation route after notice and hearing; if the court revokes, the representative's powers cease at once and the court must appoint a replacement immediately.
What trips people up
- A spouse's status alone does not remove bond. The spouse or domestic partner must be the representative, and the court must find that the entire estate remaining after expenses and creditor claims will be distributable to that person.
- There is no general beneficiary-signature waiver. The statute uses the will, the spouse/domestic-partner finding, the bank/trust-company exemption, or the court's own waiver power—not unanimous beneficiary consent.
- The delayed-appointee rule changed in 2026. Current § 11.28.185 includes 2026 chapter 204's mandatory asset-linked bond for the ordinary § 11.28.120(3) appointee; that amendment has been effective since June 11, 2026 and is already compiled.
Common questions
Does an interested person's verified petition guarantee a hearing?
No. RCW 11.28.210 expressly permits the court to act with or without a hearing when deciding whether to require a new or additional bond.
Who pays if a challenge to a surety's value fails?
Under RCW 11.28.190, if the court finds the bond and sureties sufficient, the costs are taxed against the person who initiated the hearing. No costs are imposed when the court issued the citation on its own motion.
May the estate's attorney serve as a probate-bond surety?
No. RCW 11.28.220 bars an attorney-at-law, superior-court judge, sheriff, court clerk, and the sheriff's or clerk's deputy from serving as surety on a probate bond.
Statutes and sources
- RCW 11.02.005(10), (15), 11.28.120(3), and 11.36.010(2)-(3), (6) — covered representatives, interested persons, special delayed appointees, authorized entities, and nonresident service and bond rules. Official RCW definitions, appointment priorities, and qualification rules (accessed 2026-08-29).
- RCW 11.28.170, 11.28.185, 11.28.190, 11.28.210, and 11.28.220 — oath, initial and later bond, waivers, amount, sureties, substitute protection, challenges, and disqualified sureties. Official Chapter 11.28 index (accessed 2026-08-29).
- RCW 11.28.250 — notice, hearing, revocation, immediate cessation, and replacement. Official current text (accessed 2026-08-29).
The current-session pending-bill sweep found no measure beyond already-effective 2026 chapter 204 that would change the ordinary bond rules summarized here.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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