Letters of Administration Appointment Requirements in Washington

At a glance

Requirements one by one

One priority system covers intestacy and will-annexed administration

Washington uses letters of administration for an intestate estate. If a will names personal representatives but all decline or cannot serve, RCW 11.28.010 directs the court to issue letters with the will annexed to the person who would have received administration had there been no will. RCW § 11.28.120 expressly uses the same hierarchy for both situations. RCW § 11.28.060 separately requires will-annexed letters when a sole or surviving executor dies.

The first class is the surviving spouse or state registered domestic partner, or the person that survivor requests. Next come children, parents, siblings, grandchildren, and nephews or nieces, in that order. The newer portions of the list then reach a qualifying trustee, guardian, conservator, or durable-power-of- attorney agent who controlled or potentially controlled substantially all probate and nonprobate assets; beneficiaries or transferees; specified revenue and social-services officials; and principal creditors.

Two elapsed-time routes follow. After more than 60 days without a petition by an entitled person, and subject to the other statutory conditions, the court may appoint a qualifying public-guardianship contract service provider or a guardian ad litem. After more than 90 days, the court may appoint any suitable person, but most natural persons using that route cannot receive nonintervention powers and may file only two such petitions per year.

Court and venue

The superior courts have original jurisdiction to appoint personal representatives. For the ordinary priority routes, RCW 11.96A.050 lets the petitioner initially select any Washington county. That is not the same as a domicile-only filing rule.

Under RCW § 11.96A.050(4), the 90-day suitable-person route is narrower: venue must be the decedent's county of residence or, for a nonresident decedent, a county containing probate estate property. A timely venue motion normally moves a resident's case to the residence county and a nonresident's case to an asset or death county. A venue defect does not erase actions already taken.

Verified petition and asset search

The intestacy application is a written petition signed and verified by the oath of the applicant or attorney. RCW 11.28.110 requires jurisdictional facts; the no-will statement and its basis; each heir's name, age, and address plus the reasonable search for heirs; the applicant's entitlement and lack of disqualification; and a general description of major probate assets plus the search used to identify them.

The asset description specifically includes real property, motor vehicles, and known property or interests estimated in good faith above $10,000. A spouse, domestic partner, or next-of-kin applicant may omit the description, but must still describe the asset search. A will-annexed petition may be heard under RCW 11.28.131 once the will and inability of the nominees to serve put that route in play.

Qualification and nonresidents

RCW 11.36.010 disqualifies minors, persons of unsound mind, persons whose letters were revoked for cause within 24 months, persons found within 36 months to have committed dishonesty, theft, or breach of fiduciary duty, and persons convicted of a felony or crime involving moral turpitude. Most business entities cannot serve, but authorized trust companies and national banks, qualifying attorney- owned professional entities, and qualifying nonprofit corporations can.

A nonresident can serve by filing a written appointment of a service agent. The agent must be a resident of the probate county or the estate's attorney of record. Unless the bond is waived under RCW 11.28.185, the nonresident must also file a court-approved bond.

Survivor rights, hearing notice, and appointment notice

The spouse or domestic partner has a separate right to administer community property even if the will says otherwise. Not applying within 40 days waives that community-property right. An earlier application by someone else for letters on community property requires survivor notice in the time and manner the court sets, unless the survivor filed a written waiver.

Under RCW § 11.28.131, the general appointment matter may otherwise be heard immediately. If someone other than the survivor or the survivor's designee petitions, however, the survivor receives at least 10 days' notice of the hearing unless a written waiver is filed. Under RCW § 11.28.237(1), after appointment, the representative has 20 days to serve or mail notice of the appointment and pending probate to reasonably known heirs, will beneficiaries, and nonprobate beneficiaries or transferees, and file proof.

Oath, bond, and letters

Under RCW § 11.28.170, before letters issue, each personal representative must take and file an oath to perform the trust according to law. Bond is not required when the will manifests an intent to waive it, when the qualifying survivor will receive the entire net estate after expenses and creditor claims, or when an authorized bank or trust company serves. In other cases the court sets the bond or other security unless it waives the requirement. Most appointees under the 90-day catch-all must give a bond tied to the major probate assets.

The clerk signs letters under the court seal. The statutory form recites that the administrator has duly qualified and authorizes administration according to law.

What trips people up

• The catch-all no longer opens after 40 days. Current law uses a conditional public-guardianship or guardian-ad-litem route after more than 60 days and the any-suitable-person route after more than 90 days.
• Community-property priority has its own 40-day clock. That clock governs the survivor's special right over community property; it is not the general catch-all appointment deadline.
• Venue is usually selectable at filing. Domicile matters on a venue-change motion and controls the 90-day route, but the ordinary petitioner may begin in any Washington county.
• Bond waiver is not created by requesting nonintervention powers. The waiver grounds are the ones in RCW 11.28.185, and most natural-person 90-day appointees are not eligible for nonintervention powers at all.

Common questions

Can a surviving spouse ask the court to appoint someone else?

Yes. The spouse or registered domestic partner is first in the general hierarchy and may request another person to be appointed. That survivor also has a separate community-property appointment right that is waived if no application is made within 40 days.

Does every petition require a delayed hearing?

No. The court may hear the matter immediately. The fixed advance-notice rule is the survivor safeguard: when the applicant is neither the spouse or partner nor that survivor's designee, the survivor gets at least 10 days' hearing notice unless a written waiver is filed.

When can an unrelated person become administrator?

The statute first exhausts its listed priority classes. After more than 60 days, a qualifying public-guardianship contractor or guardian ad litem may be appointed under the statutory conditions. After more than 90 days, the court may appoint any suitable person, subject to conflict, petition-frequency, bond, and nonintervention-power limits.

Statutes and sources

• RCW §§ 11.28.010 and 11.28.060 — administration with the will annexed. Official § 11.28.010.
• RCW §§ 11.96A.040 and 11.96A.050 — superior-court jurisdiction, selected venue, venue transfer, and the 90-day-route venue exception. Official § 11.96A.050.
• RCW §§ 11.28.110 and 11.28.120 — verified petition contents and current appointment hierarchy. Official § 11.28.120.
• RCW §§ 11.28.030, 11.28.131, and 11.28.237 — survivor rights, hearing notice, and postappointment notice. Official § 11.28.131.
• RCW § 11.36.010 — disqualifications, permitted entities, and nonresident service-agent and bond rules. Official § 11.36.010.
• RCW §§ 11.28.140, 11.28.170, and 11.28.185 — letters, oath, and bond. Official § 11.28.185.

All official statute pages were accessed August 9, 2026.