THIS PAGE HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT NEW COURT PROCEDURES MADE IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19.

Introduction

To begin a probate in King County, you’ll need to file the appropriate paperwork and pay the appropriate fee at the King County Superior Court. Each of the documents listed to the right can be found and are more fully described on the Documents page. The steps involved in filing your case and getting an order of appointment vary significantly depending on whether you must schedule a hearing.

Do you need to schedule a hearing?

Normally, the court system requires advance notice to all parties interested in a case before you can go to court and get a court order affecting their interests. In other words, you must schedule a hearing and give everyone advance notice of the hearing. This general rule applies to probates and most any other type of legal matter.

However, in certain probate matters, you need not give the heirs advance notice of your request to get appointed as personal representative, and you need not schedule a hearing. The most common circumstance when you don’t need to schedule a hearing is (1) when you have an original will that is self-proving, (2) you are the person nominated in the will to serve as personal representative (or executor), and (3) all the heirs and beneficiaries are adults and are not mentally incapacitated. If you have no will, you can also avoid having to schedule a hearing when all the heirs agree that you should be appointed and they provide appropriate waivers acknowledging this. While advance notice is not needed in these situations, notice following your appointment is still required.

Are you qualified to serve?

Before beginning the process of getting appointed, you should first consider whether you are qualified to serve. Under RCW 11.36.010, several classes of individuals are not qualified to serve as administrators or personal representatives of a Washington estate. Those include minors, people of unsound mind, people who have been convicted of a felony or crime of moral turpitude, and people who do not reside in Washington. If you do not reside in Washington, you can become qualified by appointing a resident agent who resides in the county where the probate is being administered (if the resident agent is the attorney of record in the probate, it doesn’t matter which county the attorney resides in). A sample pleading called Designation of Resident Agent is available on the Documents page. If you are not a resident of Washington, the court will not appoint you as administrator or personal representative without this pleading first being signed by you and the person accepting the appointment. This document should be filed with all of your initial paperwork. Don’t forget to have the person you are appointing sign the document accepting your appointment.

Where can you file the probate?

In Washington, you can start a probate in the superior court of any county. It doesn't matter where a person died or was residing at the time of death. If they resided in Washington, you can file the probate in any county in Washington. When deciding where to file, however, you should ask yourself if there might be any dispute over occupancy of real property (i.e., a house). If you anticipate needing an order from the probate court removing someone from a house, that may be easier if the probate court and the house are in the same county. Also, keep in mind that any party may ask the court to move the probate to the county where the decedent resided, as long as that request is made within four month of the mailing of the notice of appointment. RCW 11.96A.050.

If you've decided to file your probate in King County, you are required to designate the correct courthouse (Seattle or Kent) on the Case Designation Cover Sheet depending on where in the County the deceased person resided or had property. But if he or she died outside of King County and had no property in King County, you can choose either the Seattle or Kent designation area.

Changes made during COVID-19

After the COVID-19 outbreak, King County Superior Court has made significant changes in the way it hears probate matters and the way it expects you to file your case. The most significant changes include: (1) all scheduled hearings are now heard by Zoom, (2) you are strongly encouraged to utilize the court’s electronic filing system (attorneys are still required to use the electronic filing system), (3) the court has limited the number of probate cases that can be scheduled on its 10:30 probate calendar, and (4) as of October 2021, the court is not hearing probate matters on Thursday mornings.

If you are starting a routine probate where no notice is required of the initial hearing (e.g., you have an original will that is self-proving and you are the person named in the will to serve as personal representative), you need not worry about the limits being placed on the number of probate matters heard on the court’s 10:30 calendar. Also, your case will not be conducted by Zoom; instead the commissioner will review your material sometime during the day without any appearance by you.

If you have a nonroutine matter where you must give notices to heirs and beneficiaries of the initial hearing, you must schedule those hearings on the Ex Parte Court's 10:30 calendar. 

 
Beginning a probate:

When advance notice and a scheduled hearing are NOT required

All new probate petitions should be eFiled, and if you have an original will, it must be delivered (personally or by mail) to the Clerk for filing. If you do not have a will, complete step 1, and then skip to 3, but remember you will need to file waivers from any other heirs of the estate in step 3.

1. The first step is to eFile the Petition via the Clerk’s eFiling application system. The eFiling system will assign a case number and provide you the ability to pay the filing fee.

2. If you have a will, the next step is to attach a completed cover sheet (PDF) to the will, and write or type the case number that was assigned at the time of filing on the cover sheet, along with the name of the decedent. Then, drop off or mail the original will with its cover sheet to the clerk’s office in either the King County Courthouse (Seattle) or the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center (Kent), depending on the proper case designation area. In the next 48 hours, verify that the will was added to the document list in the docket using the Clerk’s Record’s Portal.

3. Finally, after confirming that the will has been added to the document list, request entry of your proposed order utilizing the Ex Parte via the Clerk portion of the eFiling system. As part of that submission, you will be able to file your oath and any additional supporting documents. It is also very important that you include a copy of your previously filed petition to the order submission, and uncheck the “file me” box next to that document. Be sure to pay for at least one certified Letters Testamentary when you submit these documents

After you complete these steps, the petition for letters testamentary (or administration) will be reviewed by a commissioner. If an order is signed appointing you as personal representative (or administrator), you should receive a color version of the certified Letters Testamentary and a copy of your order via email or regular mail, which you paid for in step

Beginning a probate:

When advance notice and a scheduled hearing ARE required

In many circumstances, you need to schedule a hearing and give advance notice of that hearing to all of the heirs and beneficiaries. The most common situation where you need to schedule a hearing is when you have no will and you cannot get all of the heirs to agree to your appointment through a waiver. Below is a general guide to scheduling a probate hearing in the King County Superior Court’s Ex Parte and Probate Department. You should also consult the Ex Parte website for more information and for updates.

1. The first step is to eFile the Petition via the Clerk’s eFiling application system. The eFiling system will assign a case number and provide you the ability to pay the filing fee.

2. The second step is determining when to schedule a hearing. If you are mailing all of the documents to the heirs, you must mail the documents at least 17 days before the hearing. When you determine a date you want, you should then check the Ex Parte Department’s Calendar Availability page to see if there is space for you on the calendar. If there is space, find the “Notice of Court Date - Ex Parte” on the King County Clerk’s forms page, and fully complete the form with the date of the hearing and the names and addresses of all of the heirs and beneficiaries.

3. The third steps is to eFile all of your remaining documents with your case number on the top of each document (e.g., your Oath, proposed Order, the Notice of Court Date, Notice of Nonintervention Powers, Declaration of Mailing). When you eFile your documents, be sure to submit eWorking Copies to the commissioner. This is a separate action within the eFiling application. It is critical that you do this! If you do not send eWorking Copies to the commissioner, the commissioner will not have your materials and it is very likely that the commissioner will not hear your matter.

4. The fourth step is to mail all of the material you just eFiled to all of the heirs and beneficiaries, especially the Notice of Court Date (which tells them when the hearing is, how they can respond, and information regarding how to call in/Zoom in for the hearing). This must be done no later than 17 days before the hearing.

5. The fifth step is to appear for the hearing. Ex Parte transitioned to Zoom hearings for all probate matters on January 11, 2021.

   • GETTING THE WILL TO THE COURTROOM. If you filed an original will, you will need to make sure that the will gets to the commissioner for the scheduled hearing. In such cases, you should email the clerk at Sea.Will-Call@kingcounty.gov (Seattle cases) or RJC.Will-Call@kingcounty.gov (Kent cases) and ask the clerk to deliver the will to the court for the hearing. You should send this email at least one day in advance.

   • ZOOM VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS:

     • Go to Zoom. Go to https://zoom.us/. Once you are on the Zoom site, click the “Join a meeting” option, or use this link https://zoom.us/join.

     • Enter the Meeting ID for the King County Superior Court Ex Parte Department. Then enter the Meeting ID (955 8948 6575) and click “Join.” Once you have joined, you will enter the virtual waiting room. When you enter the waiting room, you will see a list of cases that are scheduled to be heard on the 10:30 calendar, along with the courtroom where each case will be heard. Find your case and the proper courtroom. Currently, probate matters on the 10:30 calendar are heard in three courtrooms:

       • Courtroom 1J at the Maleng Regional Justice Center (MRJC) in Kent,

       • Room W-325 (courtroom 2) at the King County Courthouse (KCCH) in Seattle, and

       • Room W-325 (courtroom 3) at the King County Courthouse (KCCH) in Seattle.

     • Select the Proper Courtroom. You will find a list of courtrooms in the “Breakout Rooms” options in the meeting controls (look for the waffle shaped icon on the bottom of the screen; if you can’t find it, be sure that you have the most recent Zoom application downloaded onto your computer). Click “Join” next to the virtual courtroom you wish to enter, then confirm by clicking “Join” again. If you do not know which courtroom you need to be in, there is usually a court employee in the virtual waiting room who can help.

6. If your hearing is successful and the commissioner signs your Order, the Order should appear in the system within 48 hours. If you have paid for Letters Testamentary when you eFiled your documents, after the order appears in the system, the clerk should email you a color version of the Letters Testamentary (or Letters of Administration). If you do not receive an email within a few days, you should call the clerk and inquire into how you can get your Letters.

Virtual Hearing Etiquette

If you are appearing for a hearing via Zoom, the judicial officers will expect you to treat the forum like any regular courtroom. Here are some tips to make the experience a positive one for everyone in the courtroom, and to prevent getting sideways with the court commissioner.

Arrive on time. You should familiarize yourself with the Zoom platform before the hearing to avoid any last minute problems. Then you should log in at least 10 minutes before the hearing.

Dress appropriately. Attorneys should be dressed in courtroom attire. If you are not an attorney, you should dress as close to business attire as you are able. Do not wear a hat. Do not chew gum.

Keep outside sounds to a minimum. Mute your microphone unless your hearing is in progress. Choose a room where your children, pets, or others are less likely to intrude.

Avoid distractions. Remember that when your camera is on, all the court participants can see you. So be as discrete as you would in a normal courtroom as you come and go. You should consider turning off your camera if your hearing is not being held, and turn it on when your case is called. This will reduce the distraction to the attorneys and parties whose case is being heard.

Be courteous. It should be obvious, but you should be courteous to all participants in the court hearing. You should avoid physical or facial displays that would not be acceptable in a regular courtroom, including sighing, laughing, and generally objectionable behavior.

Include your name on the Zoom screen. The hearing should run more smoothly if your Zoom screen includes your name. You can rename the screen by right clicking on the screen and selecting “rename.”

Do not record any court hearings. The court records all proceedings. If you need a copy, you can order a copy by contacting the clerk’s office.

Zoom Troubleshooting

With this new technology, the court expects some initial problems, as well as difficulties for some parties using this platform. Below are some tips offered by the Ex Parte Department.

Joining by Computer or Smartphone. Zoom hearings can be accessed through the internet, the Zoom application, landline, or mobile phone, as well as with a H.323 or SIP device. You can also download the Zoom App to your smartphone or device. To download the Zoom mobile application, visit the Zoom website at https://zoom.us/download.

Joining by Telephone. Joining by telephone is not preferred. You should use this option only if you do not have a microphone on your computer, you do not have a smartphone, or you cannot connect to a network for video and VoIP. If this is you, then here is the process for joining by telephone.

1. Call 253-215-8782.
2. Enter the Zoom meeting ID: 955 8948 6575, followed by #.
3. Court staff should be available to assist you with finding the proper courtroom.

Now what?

So, you’ve been appointed. Congratulations! Now your work really begins, starting with providing the appropriate notices to the parties entitled to notice of your appointment, handling creditors, and marshaling assets.