In Washington, there are two different levels of court supervision of probate proceedings: nonintervention probates and full intervention probates.

When administering and settling the estate of someone who has died, it is important to note that there are two different levels of court supervision of probate proceedings:

NONINTERVENTION PROBATES. A person may, by specifically saying so in their Will, relieve their Personal Representative (PR) of all duties imposed under the probate statute, or add duties not imposed by the statute, with the exception of the duty to act in good faith and honest judgment. RCW 11.68.909(2). When a PR is granted nonintervention powers, the PR’s administration of the estate is no longer directly supervised by the court (RCW 11.68.011 and .090), unless an interested party brings a petition for a report on the affairs of the estate (RCW 11.68.065) or a citation in which the court issues a show cause order to the PR to answer the well-documented allegations of the interested party (RCW 11.68.070). The court may limit or revoke a PR’s nonintervention powers, under appropriate circumstances, or even replace the PR. Adequate reasons for removing a PR are waste of estate assets, embezzlement, mismanagement of estate assets, or any other reason satisfactory to the court. RCW 11.28.250. A removed PR must account to the court for their management of financial assets during their tenure, and deliver all assets and paperwork of the estate to the successor PR. RCW 11.28.290. A nonintervention PR may close the nonintervention probate by the filing of a Declaration of Completion with minimal reporting of facts to the heirs or beneficiaries. RCW 11.68.110.

We encourage nonintervention PRs to keep creditors, heirs, and beneficiaries abreast of estate developments to the extent of their individual needs. Lack of information breeds distrust and injures family harmony.

FULL INTERVENTION PROBATES. In full intervention probates, a PR must seek the court's permission for each of their actions. These requests are usually brought before the court in batches, and most probates require two sets of requests. A full intervention PR accounts annually to the court and heirs or beneficiaries about the affairs of the estate. RCW 11.76.010. The full intervention probate is closed by accounting to the heirs and beneficiaries (the final report), which must include the PR’s receipts and canceled checks (RCW 11.76.100) in the course of a final hearing, at which the court approves the PR’s accounting and plan of distributing the estate assets (decree of distribution). RCW 11.76.030.

If you have been named PR of a loved one's estate and have questions about how the probate process works, give us a call at 253.858.5434 to set up an appointment today.