Washington Small Estate Affidavit: How the $100,000 Rule Works

General information, not legal advice. Washington's community-property rules make the math specific to each family. Confirm your situation with the asset holder or an estate attorney before relying on this.

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Can you skip probate in Washington?

For a modest estate, usually yes, and Washington's version is about as streamlined as they come. Under RCW 11.62.010, a successor, the person entitled to the property under the will or by intestacy, can collect a decedent's personal property with a sworn affidavit instead of opening a probate case in Superior Court. There is no judge, no hearing, and no filing. The requirements are straightforward: the probate estate has to be within the limit, at least 40 days must have passed, no personal representative can be pending or appointed, and the decedent's debts, including funeral costs, must be paid or provided for. Meet those, and the estate never needs to see a courtroom.

How community property shrinks the count

This is the feature that makes Washington different from almost every other state, and it is worth understanding precisely. Washington is a community-property state, and the statute measures the $100,000 cap on the decedent's estate subject to probate, explicitly backing out the surviving spouse's community-property interest. In plain terms: for community assets, only the deceased spouse's half counts. A married couple holding $150,000 in community accounts and nothing else counts just $75,000 against the limit, because the survivor already owns the other half. This quietly pulls a lot of estates under the cap that would blow past $100,000 if you counted the full account balances, so run the community-property math before assuming an estate is too large.

It's a pure affidavit, no court

Unlike Virginia or Vermont, where the small estate route still touches the court, Washington's is a true affidavit process: you present the completed, signed affidavit and proof of death straight to whoever holds the asset, a bank, a credit union, a transfer agent, and they are required to release the property unless they have actual knowledge that a statement in it is false. They are then discharged as if they had dealt with a court-appointed personal representative. Only personal property moves this way, cash, accounts, securities, a vehicle. Washington real estate never passes by this affidavit; if there is a house, that part needs a different route regardless of how the rest of the estate is handled.

The DSHS notice step people miss

Here is the requirement that catches Washington families off guard. Beyond presenting the affidavit to the bank, the statute directs you to mail a copy of the affidavit, along with the decedent's Social Security number, to the state Office of Financial Recovery within the Department of Social and Health Services. This ties into Medicaid estate recovery, and skipping it leaves the process technically incomplete even if the bank has already paid out. Handle it at the same time you present the affidavit rather than treating it as an afterthought. One more timing trap worth naming: the 40-day clock runs from the actual date of death on the certificate, not the funeral date or the obituary, and using the wrong date can void the affidavit.

Written by the Trámites Notariales US editorial team, based on RCW 11.62.010 and Washington community-property law. Confirm your specific situation before relying on this.