Washington Probate and Intestate Succession: What Happens Without a Will (2026)

Washington has no separate probate court. Probate is a proceeding within the Superior Court of the county where the decedent lived, governed by RCW Title 11, and most Washington estates rely on a distinctive tool called "nonintervention powers" to keep the court largely out of day-to-day administration.

Information last verified on 2026-07-16. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How Probate Works in Washington

Washington folds probate into its ordinary Superior Court system rather than maintaining a dedicated probate court; a case is filed in the Superior Court of the county where the decedent resided, under RCW Title 11. Washington has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code, but it achieves a broadly similar light-touch result through its own distinct mechanism: nonintervention powers under RCW 11.68.

If the estate is solvent, the court must grant the personal representative nonintervention powers upon request, unless the will specifically forbids it. Once granted, the representative can sell, mortgage, and otherwise manage estate property, and ultimately close the estate by filing a Declaration of Completion, all without further court orders, notice, or hearings. This is functionally similar to independent administration in some other states, though it is a legally distinct Washington doctrine. Without nonintervention powers, administration instead proceeds under ordinary court-supervised probate, which requires judicial approval for most estate actions.

The personal representative must mail notice of appointment to interested parties within 20 days and file an inventory within 3 months of appointment. The creditor claim period runs 4 months from first publication of notice under RCW 11.40.051, or 24 months from the date of death if no notice is ever published. With nonintervention powers in place, Washington estates commonly close in roughly 6 months to a year, though Washington probate practitioners note it is uncommon for a case to close within 12 months once every statutory step and any complications are factored in.

Intestate Succession in Washington: Who Inherits Without a Will

Washington is one of only 9 community property states, and that status fundamentally changes how its intestate succession statute works compared to the other 41 states. Under RCW 11.04.015, the surviving spouse receives all of the decedent's share of the net community estate outright, regardless of whether the decedent also had children from outside the marriage. This reflects the fact that, in a community property state, each spouse already owns an existing one-half interest in property acquired during the marriage; intestate succession only needs to reassign the deceased spouse's half.

Separate property, meaning assets owned before the marriage or acquired individually by gift or inheritance during it, follows a different formula. The surviving spouse receives one-half of the net separate estate if the decedent left surviving descendants (issue); three-quarters of the separate estate if there is no surviving issue but a parent or a parent's descendant survives; or the entire separate estate if there is no surviving issue, parent, or issue of a parent. Whatever portion of separate property does not go to the surviving spouse passes to the decedent's issue by representation; if none, to the decedent's parents; if none, to the issue of the parents (siblings and their descendants); and if none, to grandparents and their issue. If no heir can be found in any of these categories, the property escheats to the State of Washington under RCW 11.08.140 through .150, which happens rarely.

One way to make sure your property goes to the people you actually choose, rather than following Washington's intestate succession order, is to have a valid will in place. recordinglaw.com's free Washington Last Will and Testament Generator can help you create one, with no account required.

Small Estate and Simplified Probate in Washington

Washington allows a successor to use a small estate affidavit for probate assets valued at $100,000 or less under RCW 11.62. At least 40 days must have passed since the date of death, no personal representative can have been appointed or have an application pending, and the decedent's debts and funeral expenses must be paid before the affidavit is used. Unlike Virginia's or Vermont's small-estate mechanisms, Washington's version is a pure affidavit process: it does not require any court filing at all to collect the qualifying property, only presentation of the completed affidavit directly to whoever is holding the asset, such as a bank or transfer agent.

Estates above $100,000 in probate assets need to go through the standard Superior Court probate process described above, though most solvent estates will still be eligible for nonintervention powers, which meaningfully reduces ongoing court involvement even for larger estates.

Washington Estate Tax

Washington has no inheritance tax, so beneficiaries owe no Washington tax simply for receiving an inheritance. Washington does levy its own state estate tax, separate from the federal estate tax, and the exemption is currently in the middle of a scheduled change. For deaths occurring January 1 through June 30, 2026, the exemption is $3,076,000. For deaths on or after July 1, 2026, the exemption resets and freezes at $3,000,000, and the top marginal rate returns to 20%, down from a temporary 35% top rate that applied to deaths between July 2025 and June 2026, under Engrossed Senate Bill 6347. Current thresholds and the full marginal rate schedule are published on the Washington Department of Revenue's estate tax tables page.

Because Washington's exemption is far below the federal $15,000,000 per-person exclusion for 2026, considerably more Washington estates owe state estate tax than owe any federal estate tax. Anyone with an estate approaching $3 million, including the value of a home in many parts of the state, should treat Washington's estate tax as a real planning consideration rather than an edge case.

Do You Need a Probate Attorney?

Many Washington estates, particularly smaller ones eligible for the small estate affidavit or solvent estates that qualify for nonintervention powers, are routinely handled with limited attorney involvement. An attorney becomes genuinely valuable when a will is likely to be contested, when the estate's community-versus-separate-property characterization is unclear or disputed, when a business interest is involved, or when the estate is large enough that Washington's estate tax exemption is actually in play. For a broader look at how probate works across the country, see Probate by State.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about probate and intestate succession in Washington as of the verification date above. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for advice from a probate attorney licensed in Washington, particularly for a contested estate, a disputed community-versus-separate-property characterization, a business interest, or an estate large enough to raise Washington estate tax questions. Figures, thresholds, and statutes change; verify current details directly with the Washington Department of Revenue or the Superior Court before relying on any figure here.

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Last updated: 2026-07-16. Figures and statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-07-16.