Probate Form "Overwhelm" & Some Reassurance & Encouragement

Overwhelm: There are over 200 forms published on this website.

Reassurance: To probate a Decedent's estate, chances are that you will need to use only a dozen or so of them, typically:

To Open the Probate Estate ---

If Decedent died with a Will (ie, testate):

Petition for Probate of Will, Letters Testamentary, & Independent Powers.
Order Admitting Will to Probate & Granting Letters Testamentary & Intervention Powers.
Oath of Named Personal Representative.
Letters Testamentary (With Will).
Notice of Appointment of Personal Representative & Pendency of Probate (With Will) & Declaration of Mailing.

Or, if Decedent died without a Will (ie, intestate):

Petition for Letters of Administration & Independent Powers.
Order Granting Letters of Administration & Nonintervention Powers.
Oath of Proposed Personal Representative (Without Will).
Letters of Administration.
Notice of Appointment of Personal Representative & Pendency of Probate (Without Will) & Declaration of Mailing.

That's 5 of the probate forms for Opening the Probate Estate.

To Administer the Probate Estate:

Inventory & Appraisement (most likely, only for your own use).
Probate Notice to Creditors.
Creditor's Claim.
Probate Creditors Notice to Washington Department of Social & Health Services & Declaration of Mailing.

That's 4 of the probate forms for Administering the Probate Estate.

And to Close the Probate estate:

Declaration of Completion of Probate (1 of the 4 possible forms, whichever is appropriate for your situation).
Receipt & Waiver by Heir or Beneficiary.

That's 2 of probate forms for Closing the Probate Estate.

For a total of 11 out of the list of probate forms for a traditional probate;
10 of them will be filed with the Court.

Set of Fill-In Probate Forms

in both Formats

for a Typical:

Testate Estate

Intestate Estate

The remaining probate forms are there if you need them, for example:

Some of them are variations of a basic probate form; for example, there are 4 slightly different versions of a Declaration of Completion of Probate.
Many of them consist of the three basic probate forms needed for most noticed hearings:
- Petition (for whatever you are asking of the Court);
- Notice of Hearing & Declaration of Mailing (for you to send a copy of it to all persons entitled to notice and to file its original with the Court, requesting the Clerk to set the hearing at your chosen date and time and verifying to the Court that you have timely sent the Notice of Hearing to all those entitled to it); and
- Order (memorialized the Court's granting of your Petition).
A number of them involve special circumstances, absent in most Decedent's estates; for example:
- Problems with finding someone able and willing to serve as Personal Representative;
- Problems with obtaining Nonintervention Powers if your situation doesn't meet the "automatic grant" requirements;
- Problems with Creditor's Claims; for example:
  - Rejecting a Creditor's Claim;
  - Filing and paying a Creditor's Claim yourself while serving as Personal Representative;
- Problems upon estate insolvency: If the estate has insufficient cash and other assets to pay all its lawful claims; and
- Problems making Final Distribution if you are unable to obtain a Receipt & Waiver from all the heirs and beneficiaries before filing your Declaration of Completion.

List of All Fill-In Probate Forms in
Word.doc Format
(separated into categories)

List of All Fill-In Probate Forms in
Word.doc Format
(in alphabetical order)

Encouragement: In the great majority of cases, probating a typical Washington Decedent's estate is routine.

You should be able to probate a typical Washington Decedent's estate with relative ease, particularly in light of the instructions and forms provided by this website. Furthermore, if problems do arise, you will be more able to identify them and make a reasoned decision on whether or not to obtain professional assistance for their solution. And if you do obtain such assistance, you will be more able to efficiently provide the necessary information to, and to effectively participate in discussion and problem solving with, whomever you decide to engage.

WASHINGTON PROBATE
Instructions & Forms

Questions?