How Do I Get Appointed as Executor in Washington?

In Washington, the Superior Court appoints the personal representative and the Superior Court clerk issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration; every appointment goes through the court.

State

Document Type

Getting appointed in Washington

Personal Representative (executor if testate, administrator if intestate)

The form that opens the estate

No statewide fill-in form

Attorney-drafted pleading

Where you file

Superior Court (probate jurisdiction)

What the court issues (with a will)

Letters Testamentary

issued by Superior Court clerk

Letters are an output — the court issues them after granting the petition.

At a glance

UPC adoptedInformal trackE-filing (self-represented)Self-represented filingLocal/county forms

E-filing is available through individual county Superior Court clerk systems, not a single statewide portal, and is not statewide-mandatory: GR 30(b)(1) is permissive — "The clerk may accept for filing an electronic document that complies with the local and statewide court rules", and GR 30(b)(4) lets a court adopt a local rule mandating e-filing only "by attorneys" — so a self-represented probate filer may e-file where the county offers it but is never required to (King County LGR 30: "Non-attorneys are not required to e-file but may do so"). GR 30(b)(2) bars electronic filing of "[a] document that is required by law to be filed in non-electronic media"; the rule does not list those documents, and county practice takes the original will on paper (King County: "Probates with wills must have the original will delivered or mailed to the Clerk for delivery to the Commissioner contemporaneous to the Petition"). The AOC Guide & File interactive interview tool offers only a Declaration interview (family law, protection order, guardianship/conservatorship cases), a felony-conviction vacation interview, and a water-adjudication claim interview — there is no probate/estate-opening interview, so pro se probate filers receive no guided form; they draft pleadings to the RCW.

Washington has no statewide fillable probate forms, so the petition, order, and letters are drafted pleadings filed under each county Superior Court's Local Court Rules. The only statewide artifact is the Probate Case Cover Sheet. Filing logistics (ex parte vs. noted hearing, proposed orders, local cover sheets) vary by county.

Bond

Required before Letters: Yes
Waivable by will: Yes
Waivable by beneficiaries: No

What to file with the petition

Death certificate — county clerk intake practice, NOT a statutory requirement, and not uniformly a certified copy. Nothing in Title 11 RCW or the Superior Court rules requires a death certificate to open probate or obtain Letters. Several counties ask for one anyway and word it differently: Thurston lists "Death Certificate (certified copy)"; Whatcom's official packets list only "Death Certificate". The largest counties do not list it at all — King, Pierce and Kitsap each publish a minimum-documents list that omits it. Confirm with the county Superior Court clerk before assuming a certified copy is needed
Original will and any codicils, delivered to the court (RCW 11.20.010); King County requires the paper original delivered or mailed to the Clerk with the petition
Petition for Letters Testamentary / of Administration, signed and verified by oath (RCW 11.28.110, as amended by 2026 c 204 s 1)
Oath of Personal Representative, filed before letters issue (RCW 11.28.170)
Proposed Order Admitting Will to Probate / Appointing Personal Representative and Granting Nonintervention Powers (RCW 11.28.010, 11.68.011)
Bond unless waived (RCW 11.28.185); a personal representative appointed under RCW 11.28.120(3) that is not a trust company, national bank or attorney-owned professional entity (RCW 11.36.010(2)-(3)) must give bond in an amount commensurate with the major probate assets
INTESTATE, where the petitioner is not the surviving spouse or domestic partner: notice of the time and place of the hearing served on the surviving spouse at least 10 days before it, or the spouse's written waiver of notice filed in the cause (RCW 11.28.131); a non-spouse applying for letters on community property within 40 days of death must also give the spouse court-directed notice (RCW 11.28.030)
Probate Case Cover Sheet (Superior Court)

Small-estate alternative

Bypasses full Letters: Yes

State-specific notes

Washington's signature feature is "nonintervention powers" (RCW 11.68.011): when the court finds the estate solvent, taking into account probate and nonprobate assets, it grants the personal representative authority to administer and settle the estate largely without further court supervision — there is no separate informal/registrar track, but a granted nonintervention estate functions with minimal court involvement after appointment. Small estates of personal property up to $100,000 can be claimed by a successor's affidavit 40 days after death (RCW 11.62.010), bypassing letters entirely; that affidavit is also drafted to statute with no official statewide form. EHB 2445 (ch. 204, Laws of 2026), effective June 11, 2026, reworked the appointment chapter to stop "probates for profit": the intestate petition must now plead the applicant's reasonable search for heirs and for the estate's major probate assets (anything over $10,000); the window before a stranger to the family may be appointed lengthened (60 days before the court may appoint a public-guardianship contractor or guardian ad litem, 90 days before "any suitable person" may be appointed under RCW 11.28.120(3)); a person appointed on that 90-day track cannot receive nonintervention powers, must post bond commensurate with the major probate assets, may not buy estate assets without court approval, and is limited to two such appointments a year; and every personal representative must now file, within 30 days of appointment, a verified report confirming notice to heirs, legatees, devisees, beneficiaries and transferees (the form is printed in RCW 11.76.010(1)), plus a report of any estate financial account opened.

General information about how a personal representative is appointed, not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney for legal questions. Data verified Aug 24, 2026

Washington has no single statewide fill-in petition; the opening document is prepared to statute and filed with the Superior Court. Superior Court clerk issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration after the court grants the petition.

Along with the petition, Washington generally requires: Death certificate — county clerk intake practice, NOT a statutory requirement, and not uniformly a certified copy. Nothing in Title 11 RCW or the Superior Court rules requires a death certificate to open probate or obtain Letters. Several counties ask for one anyway and word it differently: Thurston lists "Death Certificate (certified copy)"; Whatcom's official packets list only "Death Certificate". The largest counties do not list it at all — King, Pierce and Kitsap each publish a minimum-documents list that omits it. Confirm with the county Superior Court clerk before assuming a certified copy is needed. The court's own checklist runs longer for particular cases.

Yes. Washington requires a bond by default before Letters issue. A will can waive it.

Washington permits a self-represented person to open an estate. E-filing is open to self-represented filers. The Washington self-file probate assessment sets self-filing against attorney costs.

Yes. A revocable living trust passes its assets to the beneficiaries without a court appointment in Washington: no petition, no Letters, no bond. A revocable trust built with SimplyTrust takes about fifteen minutes.

Getting Appointed in Washington

Authority to act for the estate comes from Letters issued in Washington by Superior Court clerk, on appointment by the Superior Court. The document is Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (no will). Washington has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code.

Washington publishes no single statewide fill-in petition; the opening document is prepared to statute and filed with the court. The filing fee is $290. Washington has no informal (registrar) appointment track, so every appointment goes through the court.

Washington requires a bond by default before Letters issue, though a will can waive it.

For smaller estates, Washington offers a small-estate procedure for estates under $100,000 that can transfer assets without a full appointment or Letters. The Washington self-file probate assessment compares self-filing and attorney costs.

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated September 9, 2026

Legal Sources

Data sourced from Washington statutes and official state code. How we research.

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