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District of Columbia Estate Planning Basics
Pillar GuideDistrict of Columbia17 min read

District of Columbia Estate Planning Basics

D.C. estate planning basics: the will, durable power of attorney, health care documents and living trust adults need, plus the District's estate tax.

By Settled Editorial

District of Columbia estate planning comes down to a short set of documents. A will decides who inherits your probate property and who settles your estate. A durable power of attorney names someone to handle your money if you cannot. A health care power of attorney names someone to make medical decisions, and a living will declaration can state your wishes about life-sustaining treatment. Many people add a revocable living trust, a transfer on death deed, or beneficiary designations on top.

This guide gives you the map. It walks through each document and the exact D.C. Code section that governs it, how probate works in the District, the District's own estate tax, and what happens if you die with no plan. Each linked guide goes deeper on one topic.

Use this page to plan, not as legal advice. The Probate Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia applies these statutes to the facts of each estate, and a missed step at signing can void a document. When you own real estate, have a blended family, or expect a dispute, review your plan with a lawyer licensed in D.C. before you sign.

Why Planning Matters in the District

Here is what a plan does for you and your family:

  • You choose who inherits, instead of leaving it to the intestacy statute.
  • You name the person who settles your estate and, in the right circumstances, the guardian of your minor children.
  • You name the people who manage your money and your medical care if you lose capacity.
  • You can keep your family out of a guardianship case and cut the work after death.

Without a plan, District law fills the gaps. A statute decides who inherits. A statutory priority list decides who consents to your medical care. A court may have to appoint a guardian or conservator. Your family carries more cost, delay, and worry than they need to.

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The Documents Every D.C. Adult Should Consider

1. Last Will and Testament

A will names who receives your probate property, names a personal representative (the District's term for an executor) to settle the estate, and can set up a trust for a young or vulnerable heir.

The District's execution rules are short and strict:

  • Capacity. The person making the will must be at least 18 years old and "of sound and disposing mind and capable of executing a valid deed or contract" (D.C. Code § 18-102).
  • Signing. The will must be in writing and signed by the testator, or by another person in the testator's presence and at the testator's express direction (D.C. Code § 18-103(1)).
  • Witnesses. At least two credible witnesses must attest and subscribe the will in the testator's presence (§ 18-103(2)).

A will that misses these steps is void. The District has no exception for an unwitnessed handwritten will, and § 18-103 sets no notary requirement. Read D.C. will requirements before you sign, because the witness rule is where homemade wills fail.

A will can also name a guardian for your children, within limits. When one parent is dead, the other parent may appoint a guardian of the person of a minor child by will (D.C. Code § 21-102). A will does no work during your lifetime and does not keep property out of probate, which is why it pairs with the documents below.

2. Durable Financial Power of Attorney

A financial power of attorney lets a person you trust, called your agent, handle banking, bills, real estate, taxes, and benefits for you. Without one, your family may have to ask the court to appoint a conservator.

The District adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, effective February 23, 2023. Three rules matter most:

  • Durable by default. A power of attorney under the Act is durable unless it expressly provides that the principal's incapacity terminates it (D.C. Code § 21-2601.04).
  • A notary is required. The principal signs, or another person signs in the principal's conscious presence at the principal's direction, and the document "is not valid unless it is acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgment" (D.C. Code § 21-2601.05).
  • Older and out-of-District documents. A power signed in the District before February 23, 2023 stays valid if it met the law at the time, and a power signed elsewhere is valid in the District if it met the law of the place that governs it (D.C. Code § 21-2601.06).

The Act includes a statutory form at D.C. Code § 21-2603.01. If you plan to use a living trust, say so in the power: an agent can revoke, amend, or distribute trust property only to the extent the trust terms or the power expressly allow (D.C. Code § 19-1306.02(e)). The D.C. power of attorney guide walks through which powers to grant.

3. Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will

The District splits health care planning into two documents, and they follow different signing rules.

Durable power of attorney for health care. A competent adult may name, in writing, a person to make health care decisions if the adult becomes unable to make or communicate them (D.C. Code § 21-2205(a)). The rules:

  • The document must include language that the power is not affected by later incapacity, or that it takes effect on incapacity (§ 21-2205(b)).
  • It must be dated and signed by you and by two adult witnesses who affirm you were of sound mind and free from duress. Neither witness can be you, your health care provider, or the provider's employee (§ 21-2205(c)).
  • At least one witness cannot be related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, and cannot be entitled to any part of your estate by a current will or by law (§ 21-2205(d)).

No notary is listed. That is the reverse of the financial power, so do not assume one signing ceremony fits both.

Living will declaration. Anyone 18 or older may sign a declaration directing that life-sustaining procedures be withheld or withdrawn in a terminal condition (D.C. Code § 7-622(a)). It must be in writing, signed, dated, and signed in the presence of two or more witnesses at least 18 years old. Here the witness rule is stricter: no witness may be related to you by blood, marriage, or domestic partnership, entitled to any part of your estate, directly financially responsible for your medical care, your attending physician, or an employee of that physician or of the facility treating you (§ 7-622(a)(4)). You are also responsible for letting your attending physician know the declaration exists (§ 7-622(b)).

If you sign neither. Once your incapacity is certified, District law hands consent to a fixed list: a court-appointed guardian or conservator acting within that role, an intellectual disability advocate within the scope of that appointment, your spouse or domestic partner, an adult child, a parent, an adult sibling, a religious superior if you belong to a religious order, a close friend, and then your nearest living relative (D.C. Code § 21-2210(a)). Naming your own agent keeps that choice with you. The D.C. advance directive guide explains both forms and how to sign them.

4. A Nomination That Heads Off a Guardianship Fight

Your financial power of attorney can do one more job. If a court ever has to appoint a guardian for you, it must follow your current stated wishes or your most recent nomination in a durable power of attorney, unless lack of qualification or other good cause points the other way (D.C. Code § 21-2043(b)). Without a nomination, the court works down a priority list that starts with your spouse or domestic partner (§ 21-2043(c)). See D.C. guardianship for how the court process runs.

Should You Add a Revocable Living Trust?

A revocable living trust holds your assets during life and passes them at death without probate for whatever the trust owns. You can serve as your own trustee, and a successor trustee steps in at incapacity or death.

D.C. trusts follow the District's Uniform Trust Code in Title 19, Chapter 13. You can create a trust by transferring property to a trustee, or by declaring that you hold identifiable property as trustee (D.C. Code § 19-1304.01). A trust exists only if you have capacity, show an intent to create it, name a definite beneficiary, give the trustee duties, and the same person is not both the sole trustee and the sole beneficiary (D.C. Code § 19-1304.02(a)). Unless the terms expressly say the trust is irrevocable, you can revoke or amend it, for trusts created under instruments signed on or after March 10, 2004 (§ 19-1306.02(a)).

The catch is funding. District law sends "all property of a decedent" to the personal representative for administration (D.C. Code § 20-105), so a house or account left in your own name still goes through probate. A trust is not required, and many D.C. estates do not need one. It helps most when you want privacy, management during incapacity, or control over how heirs receive property. The D.C. revocable living trust guide covers creating and funding one, and the national will versus trust comparison weighs the two.

Other Tools That Pass Property Outside Probate

A plan rarely relies on a will alone. These tools name a recipient directly:

  • Transfer on death deed. The District has allowed one since 2013. The deed must state that the transfer happens at your death and must be recorded in the Office of Recorder of Deeds before you die (D.C. Code § 19-604.09). Once recorded, you cannot revoke it by tearing it up; you revoke it only by a later recorded instrument such as a revoking deed or an instrument of revocation (D.C. Code § 19-604.11). The Office of Tax and Revenue publishes the form as "ROD 39 - Transfer-On-Death Deed." The D.C. transfer on death deed guide walks through it.
  • Vehicle beneficiary. The D.C. DMV lets an individual owner add one beneficiary to a vehicle title so the beneficiary can "obtain the vehicle title upon death, without having to go through probate." The DMV also says "a will or probate court decision does not override a beneficiary on a DC title."
  • Beneficiary designations and payable-on-death accounts. Life insurance, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death bank accounts pass to the named person. They override your will, so review them after every marriage, divorce, birth, or death.

The guide to keeping assets out of probate compares every option.

Two smaller pieces round out a plan. Online accounts, email, and stored files fall under the District's Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act of 2020 (D.C. Code § 21-2501), so see planning for digital accounts before you list passwords in a will. And if an animal depends on you, District law lets you create a trust for the care of an animal alive during your lifetime, which ends when the last covered animal dies (D.C. Code § 19-1304.08(a)). The guide on providing for a pet explains how to set one up.

How Probate Works in the District

The District has one probate forum. Every estate goes to the Probate Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, and the Register of Wills is an office inside that division, not a separate elected officer. Small estates get a shorter path: property subject to administration in the District worth $80,000 or less may be administered as a small estate (D.C. Code § 20-351), a figure raised from $40,000 by D.C. Law 25-302 effective March 21, 2025. A separate no-court affidavit route covers an entire probate estate, less liens, of $40,000 or less that holds no real property, collected at least 60 days after death (D.C. Code § 20-361(a), as amended by D.C. Law 26-164, a temporary act effective until March 27, 2027).

The District of Columbia probate guide covers the full process, and the D.C. small estate guide explains both shortcuts.

Does the District Have an Estate or Inheritance Tax?

The District runs its own estate tax, separate from the federal one, and plan for it sooner than you might expect.

  • The exclusion. D.C. Code § 47-3701(14)(D) sets the zero bracket amount at $4 million for deaths after December 31, 2020, increased each year by a cost-of-living adjustment (D.C. Code § 47-3701). The Office of Tax and Revenue's 2026 D-76 instruction booklet puts the exclusion at $4,988,400 for deaths from January 1 through December 31, 2026.
  • The deadline. The personal representative files the return and pays within 10 months after death. No return is required if the gross estate does not exceed $1 million or the zero bracket amount, whichever is higher (D.C. Code § 47-3705(a)).
  • What counts. The tax measures the gross estate as the Internal Revenue Code defines it (§ 47-3701(5)), so trust assets and accounts with beneficiaries count even though they skip probate.
  • No inheritance tax. The Office of Tax and Revenue's inheritance tax return covers only estates of people who died on or before March 31, 1987.

The federal exclusion is far higher, at $15,000,000 for 2026 deaths according to the IRS, so an estate can owe the District and still owe nothing federally. The D.C. estate tax guide runs the numbers.

Who Inherits If You Have No Will

If you die without a valid will, the intestacy statute decides who takes your probate property. A surviving spouse or domestic partner takes the whole estate only if no descendant or parent survives you. Otherwise the share drops to two-thirds, three-fourths, or one-half of any balance, depending on which relatives survive and whose descendants they are (D.C. Code § 19-302).

A spouse or domestic partner left little by a will has an escape hatch. Within 6 months after the will is admitted to probate, the survivor can file a written renunciation and take the legal share instead: the intestate share, capped at one-half of the net estate passing under the will (D.C. Code § 19-113(a), (e)). The D.C. intestate succession guide shows each family situation, and surviving spouse rights covers the election.

Getting Started

You do not have to do everything at once. A sensible order looks like this:

  1. List what you own, how each asset is titled, and roughly what it is worth.
  2. Decide who inherits, who serves as personal representative, and who acts as your financial and health care agents.
  3. Sign a will with two credible witnesses.
  4. Sign a durable financial power of attorney before a notary.
  5. Sign a health care power of attorney with two qualifying adult witnesses, and a living will declaration if you want one.
  6. Check the beneficiary designations on your accounts, insurance, and vehicle title, and consider a transfer on death deed for D.C. real estate.
  7. Tell your agents and personal representative where the documents are, and review the plan every few years.

For the bigger picture across every state, the national estate planning overview shows how these pieces connect.

The Bottom Line

Most D.C. adults need a witnessed will, a notarized durable power of attorney, and a witnessed health care power of attorney, with a living will declaration if they want one. Add a funded revocable trust, a recorded transfer on death deed, or beneficiary designations where they fit. Watch the District estate tax, which starts at $4,988,400 for 2026 deaths, far below the federal line. Review titles and beneficiaries as life changes.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

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Information current as of October 5, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in District of Columbia can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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More District of Columbia Resources

Explore the rest of the District of Columbia estate planning hub.

The core documents5 pages
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