Washington Probate Bond

RCW 11.28.120(3) lets a court appoint “any suitable person” to administer an estate once everyone with statutory priority — spouse, children, parents, siblings, and the other classes in RCW 11.28.120(1) — has gone more than 90 days past the death without petitioning. If that’s you, RCW 11.28.185 makes bond mandatory (not discretionary) “in an amount commensurate with the major probate assets,” unless you happen to qualify as a bank, trust company, or attorney-owned professional service corporation under RCW 11.36.010(2) or (3). RCW 11.28.120(3) itself — echoed in RCW 11.68.011(1) — separately bars this appointee from nonintervention powers, and limits any one person to two such petitions per calendar year.

RCW 11.36.010(6) lets a nonresident serve, but requires appointing an agent — a resident of the probate county, or an attorney of record — for service of estate papers, filed in writing with the court. The same subsection then requires the nonresident to file a bond “unless bond has been waived as provided by RCW 11.28.185.” That’s a real cross-reference, not a blanket bar: a nonresident PR who happens to be the sole-taker surviving spouse, or who serves under a will that waives bond, gets the same waiver as a resident. The friction is that most nonresidents serving as PR don’t fit one of those three narrow categories, so bond ends up required as a practical matter even on an otherwise nonintervention-eligible estate.

A minor heir can’t directly receive a probate distribution, so the estate typically needs a court-appointed conservator for that heir’s share before the estate can close — and that conservator faces its own, separate bond under RCW 11.130.445, sized to the conservatorship estate’s value plus projected income. This is a genuinely useful cross-reference most probate guides miss: RCW 11.28.185 itself names RCW 11.130.445 as an example of the kind of “other security or financial arrangements” a court can substitute for a standard probate bond — the two statutes aren’t just adjacent, the probate bond rule explicitly points to the conservator bond rule as a model.

If I get nonintervention powers in Washington, do I still need a probate bond?

Usually not — but the two things are legally separate and it helps to know why. Nonintervention powers under RCW 11.68.011 let you administer and close the estate without further court supervision; the bond question is answered separately by RCW 11.28.185. In practice they overlap heavily because the same low-risk fact pattern qualifies for both: a named executor under a probated will, or a surviving spouse taking the entire community-property estate, typically gets both nonintervention powers (automatically, without even a hearing in most cases) and a bond waiver (because the will waives it, or because the spouse is the sole taker). But a court can still condition a nonintervention grant on posting bond if an heir objects, and — separately — a fiduciary who qualifies for nonintervention powers through the general "best interests" route under RCW 11.68.011, rather than the automatic categories, faces a notice period during which any heir, beneficiary, or creditor can object to both the powers and ask the court to require security.

What if I'm the court's 90-day catchall appointee instead of the priority heir?

You will almost certainly be bonded, and you will not get nonintervention powers at all. RCW 11.28.120(3) lets the court appoint "any suitable person" to administer an estate once the people with statutory priority — spouse, children, parents, siblings — have gone more than 90 days after the death without petitioning for letters. RCW 11.28.185 responds to that scenario directly: anyone appointed under RCW 11.28.120(3) who isn't a bank, trust company, or attorney-owned professional service corporation described in RCW 11.36.010(2) or (3) "shall" be bonded "in an amount commensurate with the major probate assets" — the one place in the statute where bond isn't discretionary. RCW 11.28.120(3) itself — echoed in RCW 11.68.011(1) — also bars this appointee from receiving nonintervention powers, and caps the position at two petitions per person per year.

I live outside Washington — does that force a bond even with nonintervention powers?

It usually does, though not automatically by rule. RCW 11.36.010(6) lets a nonresident serve as personal representative, but requires appointing an agent — a resident of the probate county or an attorney of record — for service of papers, and it requires the nonresident to file a bond "unless bond has been waived as provided by RCW 11.28.185." That cross-reference matters: it means a nonresident PR is eligible for the same three waivers as anyone else (a will that waives bond, sole-taker surviving spouse, or a corporate fiduciary) — residency alone doesn't disqualify you from a waiver. The practical friction is that most nonresident PRs don't fit those three categories (they're usually an out-of-state adult child serving as executor for a parent who didn't waive bond, or an out-of-state administrator on an intestate estate with other heirs), so a bond ends up required in practice even when nonintervention powers are granted on the underlying estate.

A co-heir is a minor — does that trigger a Washington probate bond?

Not directly under RCW 11.28.185, but it usually triggers a different bond. A minor heir can't personally receive or manage a distribution, so the estate typically needs a court-appointed conservator (guardian of the estate) for that heir's share before final distribution closes. That conservator is bonded separately under RCW 11.130.445 — Washington's Uniform Guardianship Act provision — which sets the bond at the value of the property under the conservator's control plus estimated income for the reporting period, unless the court finds a bond unnecessary or the conservator is a bank or trust company qualified for trust business. A professional, compensated conservator can't get that waiver. So the personal representative's own probate bond and the minor's conservator bond are two different instruments, and one estate can end up needing both.

Can a Superior Court require a bond even if none of the mandatory triggers apply?

Yes — RCW 11.28.185's catch-all line covers every case the specific rules don't: "unless waived by the court, the personal representative shall give such bond or other security, in such amount and with such surety or sureties, as the court may direct." That default rule is why an uncontested, nonintervention-eligible estate with a will that says nothing about bond still technically needs a judge to actually waive it — it doesn't happen by default just because no one objected. The court also keeps standing authority to require an additional bond later, or to reduce one already posted, and RCW 11.28.185 explicitly lets the court substitute a different security arrangement instead of a bond — including, by name, an arrangement "as provided under RCW 11.130.445," the same instrument used for conservator bonds.

How much does a Washington probate bond cost if one is required?

Premium is a percentage of the bond amount, not a percentage of the whole estate, and Washington carriers price it the same way other states' fiduciary bonds are priced nationally: roughly 0.5% to 1.5% per year based on the fiduciary's personal credit, with most approvals landing at the lower end for a first-time PR with reasonable credit. On a $750,000 bond sized to the estate's major probate assets, that runs about $3,750 to $11,250 a year. Since RCW 11.28.185 ties the mandatory-bond amount to "major probate assets" rather than the full gross estate, a bond can come in materially lower than the total estate value if significant assets — a home passing outside probate, jointly-held accounts — aren't counted as probate assets in the first place. See our full breakdown in the probate bond cost by state guide, or run your own figure through the calculator.