Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in Washington

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and proceeding type

RCW § 11.20.020 allows an application for probate, letters testamentary, or either request alone. The court may hear the proof immediately and enters a formal order admitting or rejecting the will. Probate and appointment therefore can be combined, but they are not inseparable.

The same section permits testacy without appointing a personal representative. If the court establishes the will and no appointment was requested, no further administration is required unless later commenced through RCW 11.28.330 or 11.28.340.

Court and venue

Probate is in superior court. RCW § 11.96A.050(4) initially lets the petitioner select any Washington county, except for the statute's special creditor- appointment route. A party requesting transfer within four months after the appointment notice ordinarily moves the case to the decedent's county of residence, or for a nonresident to a county containing probate assets, nonprobate assets when no probate assets exist, or the place of death.

Once letters issue, subsection (5) keeps later Title 11 proceedings in the issuing county unless venue is moved. Subsection (7) protects action already taken from invalidity merely because venue later changes.

Who may apply

RCW § 11.20.020 does not name a restricted applicant class for the probate or letters application. It does expressly allow the named executor or any person interested under the will, after death, to request attesting-witness affidavits. That filing question is separate from whether the nominated executor qualifies for letters under RCW 11.36.010.

Application contents

Chapters 11.20 and 11.28 do not supply a statewide enumerated fact list for the ordinary application. RCW § 11.20.020 identifies the relief—probate, letters, or either—and requires the court's formal admission or rejection order, but it does not prescribe a verified statewide petition form.

The no-personal-representative branch has a later content rule. Under RCW § 11.28.330, the adjudication notice identifies the estate and cause number, the applicant's name and address, the testacy order, a copy of the will, and the four-month finality warning.

Original will, copies, and electronic records

RCW § 11.20.010 requires the person controlling the will to deliver it to the court or named executor, and then requires an executor holding it to deliver it to the court. Filed wills are entered in the superior-court record under RCW § 11.20.050.

A will probated elsewhere uses a certified-copy route under RCW § 11.20.090: the proponent produces the will copy and certified original probate record. Electronic wills have a separate certified-paper-copy provision in RCW § 11.12.480. But qualified custody remains consequential: § 11.20.020(3) sends an electronic will without maintained qualified custody to the lost-or- destroyed-will procedure.

Filing and production timing

The will-delivery clocks are separate. Under RCW § 11.20.010, a custodian has 30 days after learning of death to deliver the will to the court or named executor. A named executor who controls the will has 40 days after learning of death to deliver it to the court. A willful violation creates liability for an aggrieved party's resulting damages.

The cited ordinary-probate provisions do not set a separate numeric deadline for filing the application itself. The four-month will-contest clock under RCW 11.24.010 begins after probate or rejection, not at death.

Proof and self-proof

RCW § 11.20.020 requires supporting testimony to be reduced to writing, signed by the witnesses, and certified by the judge. Its affidavit route is flexible: any or all attesting witnesses may swear to the facts they would give in court, and the affidavit can be on or associated with the will, a photographic copy, or an electronic will. The court accepts the sworn statement as if taken in court.

If a witness is sick, outside Washington, or more than 30 miles away, RCW § 11.20.030 authorizes a commission to take the attestation. If a witness later becomes incompetent, cannot testify, or is absent from Washington, RCW § 11.20.040 permits satisfactory handwriting testimony or other facts and circumstances tending to prove the will.

Electronic-will self-proof is more specific. RCW § 11.12.450 requires the witness affidavits to be associated with the electronic will, continuous qualified-custodian custody, an authorized officer, and the officer's certificate under official seal.

Notice, hearing, and objections

RCW § 11.20.020 permits an immediate proof hearing and states no general pre-admission service requirement. After appointment, RCW § 11.28.237 gives the personal representative 20 days to personally serve or mail appointment-and- probate notice to reasonably known heirs, legatees, devisees, and beneficiaries or transferees of nonprobate assets, then file affidavit or declaration proof.

If no representative is appointed, the person obtaining testacy has 30 days to send the adjudication notice under RCW § 11.28.330. In either ordinary probate or rejection, RCW § 11.24.010 gives an interested person four months to file a will contest. Filing tolls the period only if the personal representative is personally served within 90 days after filing.

Executor qualification, bond, and letters

After admission and appointment, RCW § 11.28.010 directs letters to the named executors who accept and are qualified; an interested person may file written appointment objections under RCW § 11.28.020. RCW § 11.36.010 disqualifies the listed entities and people, including minors, people of unsound mind, people with specified recent revocations or dishonesty findings, and people convicted of a felony or crime involving moral turpitude. A nonresident may serve by filing the required resident-agent appointment and, unless waived, bond.

Before letters issue, RCW § 11.28.170 requires the personal representative's filed oath to perform the trust according to law. RCW § 11.28.185 controls bond: the will may waive it; qualifying surviving-spouse or partner and bank/trust- company cases need none; the court may waive it in other ordinary cases; and a required bond must be executed before letters. Under RCW § 11.28.090, the clerk signs and seals letters after the will is exhibited, proved, and recorded and the executor has qualified.

What trips people up

• The custodian and executor clocks are different. Thirty days governs a custodian's delivery to the court or nominee; 40 days governs the nominee's delivery to the court.
• Initial county choice is broad but not necessarily permanent. A timely transfer request can move the probate to the statutorily preferred county.
• Probating the will does not require appointing an executor in the same order. The no-representative route substitutes its own 30-day notice.
• A beneficiary waiver is not one of § 11.28.185's express no-bond rules. Read the will, spouse/partner, institutional, special-appointment, and court- waiver provisions instead.

Common questions

Can the court admit the will on the same day the application is made?

The statute permits it. RCW § 11.20.020 says the court may immediately hear the proofs, although an actual hearing schedule remains a court-administration matter.

What if every named executor refuses or is disqualified?

RCW § 11.28.010 changes the office: letters of administration with the will annexed go to the person who would have received administration if there were no will.

Does filing a will contest alone preserve the four-month deadline?

Only conditionally. RCW § 11.24.010 treats filing as commencement for tolling, but the contestant must personally serve the personal representative within 90 days after filing or the action is deemed not commenced for that purpose.

What if the electronic will left qualified-custodian control?

RCW § 11.20.020(3) requires it to be treated as a lost or destroyed will under RCW 11.20.070 rather than receiving the ordinary electronic-will route.

Statutes and sources

• RCW chapters 11.20 and 11.28 — probate applications, proof, delivery, recording, appointment, notice, oath, bond, and letters. https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.20 https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.28
• RCW 11.12.450 and 11.12.480 — electronic-will self-proof and certified paper copies. https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.12.450
• RCW 11.24.010, 11.36.010, and 11.96A.050 — contests, qualifications, and venue. https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.24.010 https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.36.010 https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=11.96A.050

All sources were accessed August 3, 2026.