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Washington Executor Bond Requirements
Support GuideWashington27 min read

Washington Executor Bond Requirements

RCW 11.28.185 excuses a Washington executor bond when the will waives it, when a sole-beneficiary spouse serves, or when a bank serves. The court sets the rest.

By Settled Editorial

Washington does not make every personal representative post a bond. RCW 11.28.185 removes the bond outright in three situations, makes it mandatory in one, and leaves everything else to the Superior Court. Most Washington estates run without one, because most Washington wills waive it.

Read the order of operations before you read the exceptions. A bond, when it is required, has to exist before your authority does. RCW 11.28.185 says every person required to furnish bond must execute it before receiving letters testamentary or of administration. Until that paper is on file, nobody has signed a deed, closed an account or paid a creditor. This guide covers the three automatic waivers, the one mandatory bond a 2026 statute created, how the court sizes an ordinary bond, who may sign as surety, what it costs, and how the obligation ends, alongside the whole Washington probate sequence. It is general information rather than advice about one estate. Confirm your own bond with the Superior Court handling the file or a licensed Washington attorney.

One Statute, Five Branches

Everything about a decedent-estate bond in Washington starts in a single section, RCW 11.28.185. Its catchline runs "Bond or other security of personal representative", and it answers five different questions in one paragraph. Sorted, the branches look like this.

SituationBond result under RCW 11.28.185
The terms of the will manifest an intent that the personal representative not furnish bond or other securityNo bond as a condition of appointment
The personal representative is the surviving spouse or domestic partner and the entire estate, after expenses and creditor claims, will be distributable to that spouseNo bond as a condition of appointment
A bank or trust company authorized to act as personal representative is appointedNo bond
A personal representative is appointed under RCW 11.28.120(3) and is not an entity described under RCW 11.36.010 (2) or (3)Bond required, in an amount commensurate with the major probate assets identified under RCW 11.28.110(1)(d)
Everything elseBond or other security, in the amount and with the sureties the court directs, unless the court waives it

The bottom row is where an intestate estate with children, a family friend serving as personal representative, or a will that never mentioned bond all land. Nothing in the statute presumes a bond in that row and nothing presumes a waiver. The court decides.

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The Three Waivers That Happen at Appointment

Two of these three are worth reading closely, because their conditions are narrower than the shorthand people repeat.

The will waiver. The test is the will's manifest intent that the personal representative "shall not be required to furnish bond or other security." No magic words appear in the statute, and the drafting lawyer's phrasing is what the court reads. This is the branch that covers most Washington probates, so a reader with a professionally drafted will can usually stop here. Draft language matters enough that a Washington will with an old bond clause is worth reviewing before anyone petitions.

The surviving spouse waiver. Two conditions run together. The personal representative has to be the surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner, and it has to appear to the court that the entire estate, after provision for expenses and claims of creditors, will be distributable to that spouse. A spouse who is one of several takers does not fit. Because Washington is a community property state, an intestate estate made up of community property often does, since RCW 11.04.015 sends the decedent's community half to the surviving spouse. Test it against the actual Washington intestate shares rather than assuming.

The bank or trust company. The shortest branch and the flattest. In all cases where a bank or trust company authorized to act as personal representative is appointed, no bond is required. No solvency finding, no distribution test.

An oath is a separate filing and no waiver reaches it. RCW 11.28.170 requires every personal representative, or an officer of a qualified bank or trust company, to take and subscribe an oath before letters issue that the duties of the trust will be performed according to law. A bond-free appointment still needs that oath in the file.

The 2026 Amendment That Created a Mandatory Bond

Chapter 204, Laws of 2026 changed this section, and anything written about Washington probate bonds before mid-2026 is describing an older statute. The act is Engrossed House Bill 2445, titled "ending probates for profit." The Senate passed it 47 to 0 on March 6, 2026, the House passed it 66 to 29 on March 11, the Governor approved it on March 24, and it took effect June 11, 2026.

The act built one mechanism across four sections, and the bond is the piece that holds it together.

  1. A new appointment route. RCW 11.28.120(3) now says that if the people entitled to letters fail for more than 90 days after the death to petition, the court may appoint any suitable person. That person is limited to compensation under RCW 11.48.210, may not purchase or take proceeds from estate assets except as RCW 11.48.020 allows, and unless the person is a bank, trust company or attorney-owned professional entity, is ineligible for nonintervention powers and capped at two such petitions per year. The same act moved the earlier backstop in RCW 11.28.120(2) from 40 days to 60.
  2. A new disclosure. RCW 11.28.110(1)(d) now makes the petition describe the major probate assets, including real property, motor vehicles and any known property or interest estimated in good faith to exceed $10,000 in value, together with the details of the applicant's reasonable search to identify them. A spouse or next-of-kin applicant under RCW 11.28.120(1)(a) or (b) skips the description but still states the search.
  3. A mandatory bond. RCW 11.28.185 now reads that in all cases where a personal representative is appointed under RCW 11.28.120(3) and is not an entity described under RCW 11.36.010 (2) or (3), bond shall be required in an amount commensurate with the major probate assets identified under RCW 11.28.110(1)(d).
  4. A disqualification and a removal. RCW 11.36.010(1)(g) disqualifies a person seeking appointment under that route who is a principal or agent of, or acting at the behest of or in concert with, anyone likely to be involved in the sale, purchase, repair or transfer of a major probate asset. RCW 11.36.010(5) tells the court it must revoke that person's letters, and lets it impose sanctions, if the person turns out to be acting that way.

The entities in RCW 11.36.010 (2) and (3) are the ones excused from the mandatory bond: state-organized trust companies and national banks authorized to act, and professional service corporations, professional limited liability companies or limited liability partnerships whose owners are exclusively attorneys. A stranger appointed off the 90-day clock is neither, so the bond attaches.

One more link the same act made. RCW 11.68.011(1) now says that a personal representative appointed under RCW 11.28.120(3) who is not one of those entities may not petition for and may not be granted nonintervention powers. So that appointee posts a bond and stays under court supervision at the same time.

How the Court Sets the Amount

Washington publishes no percentage, no schedule and no arithmetic for an ordinary decedent-estate bond. RCW 11.28.185 says the amount is what the court directs, and that is the whole rule. Any page quoting a Washington bond formula for a probate estate invented it.

Two pieces of the statute do give the court a reference point. The mandatory-bond sentence uses the word commensurate and points at the major probate assets listed in the petition. And RCW 11.28.110(2) says the specific value, location, provenance and condition of each major probate asset need not be described in the petition "except to the extent necessary to determine bond," which tells you what the valuation in a petition is actually for.

The contrast with a conservatorship is instructive, and it is a different chapter. RCW 11.130.445(2) does give a formula: unless the court directs otherwise, a conservator's bond is the aggregate capital value of the conservatorship estate plus estimated income for the accounting and report review interval, less property deposited under a verified receipt requiring a court order for removal and real property the conservator cannot sell without specific authorization. Decedent estates in Washington have no equivalent, so the same Washington guardianship and conservatorship chapter is not a source for a personal representative's number.

What the Bond Promises

RCW 11.28.185 states the obligation in one sentence. Every person required to furnish bond must, before receiving letters testamentary or of administration, execute a bond to the state of Washington, conditioned that the personal representative shall faithfully execute the duty of the trust according to law.

Three details are worth pulling out of that.

  • The obligee is the state, not the heirs. Beneficiaries and creditors reach the bond through the enforcement machinery below rather than as named parties on its face.
  • The condition is faithful execution of the trust, which imports every duty in Title 11 RCW. That includes the duties on the personal representative's list and every date on the Washington probate calendar, because failing one of those is failing the condition your surety signed.
  • Timing is a gate, not a formality. The bond comes before the letters.

Cash is not the only answer. The last paragraph of the section lets the court, in its discretion, substitute other security or financial arrangements in lieu of bond, "such as provided under RCW 11.130.445," or whatever the court finds adequate to protect the assets. That cross-referenced section accepts collateral in place of surety, including a pledge of securities or a mortgage of real property.

Who May Sign as Surety

Two different regimes apply, and which one you are in decides whether anyone has to prove anything.

An individual surety. RCW 19.72.020 requires each individual surety to be a resident of Washington, and bars an attorney-at-law, a sheriff, a clerk of any court of record or any other officer of that court. RCW 11.28.220 repeats the bar for probate bonds and adds superior court judges and the deputies of those officers. RCW 19.72.030 sets the net worth test: separate property worth the amount specified in the bond, over and above all debts and liabilities and exclusive of property exempt from execution, unless the other spouse joins in signing, in which case they need community property of that value. The judge may let more than two sureties justify severally in smaller amounts, so long as the whole justification equals two sufficient sureties.

A corporate surety. RCW 19.72.060 sends you to chapter 48.28 RCW, and RCW 48.28.010 does the heavy lifting. A bond that is otherwise proper and whose conditions are backed by an authorized surety insurer, or by an unauthorized surety insurer as a surplus line under chapter 48.15 RCW, "shall be approved and accepted" and is deemed to fulfill all requirements as to number of sureties, residence or status of sureties and other similar requirements, with no justification by that surety necessary. That single sentence is why families with a required bond usually buy one instead of recruiting neighbors.

Individual sureties can be tested, before approval and after it. RCW 19.72.040 lets the judge, the clerk or any party to the proceeding require a surety to appear and be examined under oath about residence and property; the judge endorses the allowance on the bond if satisfied, and the bond "shall be of no effect" if not. RCW 11.28.190 adds the probate version: on the judge's own motion, or on an interested person's motion supported by an affidavit that the sureties are not worth what they justified to, the court issues a citation and examines them. If the bond turns out to be insufficient the judge must require sufficient additional security. If it holds up, costs are taxed against the party who started the hearing, and the sureties collect witness fees and mileage. A citation the court issued on its own motion carries no costs.

What a Washington Probate Bond Costs

There is no statutory premium and no rate schedule. A surety insurer prices the bond against the amount, the makeup of the estate and the applicant's credit, so the only honest answer to "what will it cost" comes from a quote.

Where the money lands is settled by statute. RCW 48.28.020 lets any fiduciary required by law to give bonds include, as part of lawful expense allowed by the court or official that made the appointment, the reasonable amount paid as premium to the authorized or surplus line surety insurer that issued or backed the bond. RCW 48.28.030 does the same thing for judicial bonds inside a contested proceeding, letting a party entitled to recover costs include a reasonable premium sum the court allows.

So the premium is an administration expense, not a personal one. Book it in the estate accounting on the day it clears and keep the invoice with the receipts you will show at closing.

Changing the Bond After the Appointment

A bond decision made at appointment is not locked for the life of the estate, in either direction.

  • The court, on its own. RCW 11.28.185 lets the court at any time after appointment require the personal representative to give a bond or additional bond, conditioned and approved the same way. The same sentence lets the court allow a reduction of the bond upon a proper showing. A waiver granted in the first hearing does not survive a later reason to doubt it.
  • Any interested person. RCW 11.28.210 lets any person interested complain of the sufficiency of any bond or its sureties at any time, by verified petition or otherwise. The court may act on that petition or on its own motion, with or without a hearing, and require a new or additional bond. The section hands the court wide discretion over how it gets there.
  • A challenge to the sureties. RCW 11.28.190, above, is the narrower version aimed at whether the people who signed are worth what they said.

If the estate grows because a house sells or a claim resolves, expect the bond question to come back. That is the moment the court is most likely to ask for more.

Special Administrators, Nonresidents, and Co-Representatives

Three appointment shapes carry their own bond treatment.

Special administrator. When an action about the proof of a will or any other cause delays letters, RCW 11.32.010 lets the judge appoint a special administrator, other than one of the parties, to collect and preserve the decedent's effects. RCW 11.32.020 then requires that person, before entering on the duties of the trust, to give bond with sufficient surety in the sum the judge orders, payable to the state of Washington, with the conditions required of an executor. The one exception is the same as the main rule: a bank or trust company authorized to act as administrator posts nothing.

Nonresident personal representative. RCW 11.36.010(6) allows a nonresident to serve, on two conditions. The nonresident appoints, in writing filed by the clerk with the other papers of the estate, an agent who is a resident of the county where the estate is being probated or an attorney of record for the estate, on whom service of all papers may be made. And unless bond has been waived as provided by RCW 11.28.185, the nonresident personal representative must file a bond approved by the court. Read that second clause carefully. Nonresidence is not itself a bond trigger; it just removes the assumption that a waiver is available without checking.

Co-personal representatives. RCW 11.28.185 speaks of "every person required to furnish bond," so each co-representative is measured against the same five branches. Ask the court which structure it wants before anyone signs, because the statute does not choose between separate bonds and a joint one.

Bond and Nonintervention Powers Are Separate Questions

These two get conflated because both come up early and both turn on how much the court trusts the file. They test different things.

RCW 11.68.011(2) makes the court grant nonintervention powers when the estate is solvent, counting probate and nonprobate assets, and one of three conditions is met. That section never mentions bond. RCW 11.28.185 never mentions solvency. A will can waive the bond and still direct that the court not grant nonintervention powers, and an estate can be solvent enough for the powers while the court still wants security.

The 2026 act linked them in exactly one place, described above: a personal representative appointed under RCW 11.28.120(3) who is not a bank, trust company or attorney entity posts a mandatory bond and cannot receive the powers. Outside that route, treat them as two separate motions with two separate tests.

The Affidavit Route Needs No Bond

The cheapest answer to a bond question is often that no bond exists, because no appointment does. RCW 11.62.010 lets a claiming successor collect a decedent's personal property 40 days after death by affidavit, when the estate subject to probate, excluding the surviving spouse's community interest and net of liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000.

Subsection (2)(e) is the part that ends the bond question. The affidavit has to state that no application or petition for the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction. No petition means no letters, no letters means nobody was required to furnish bond, and RCW 11.28.185 never engages. The tradeoff is scope, since the affidavit moves personal property only. The full comparison sits in the Washington small estate affidavit guide.

What Happens When a Bond Is Breached

Washington's enforcement sections are old, short and unusually blunt.

RCW 11.28.230 refuses to let a bond fail on paperwork. A bond required under the chapter, and intended to be that bond, is not void for want of form, recital or condition, and neither principal nor surety is discharged on that account. All parties are held to the full extent the law contemplated, up to the amount specified. A plaintiff suing on a defective bond may state its legal effect as though the bond were perfect. And the bond is not exhausted by one lawsuit: it may be sued and recovered on from time to time, by any person aggrieved in that person's own name, until the whole penalty is used up.

The rest of the machinery runs through the estate.

  • Removal. RCW 11.28.250 lets the court revoke letters, after notice and hearing, when it has reason to believe the personal representative has wasted, embezzled or mismanaged the estate, is about to, has committed or is about to commit a fraud, is incompetent, has permanently left the state, has wrongfully neglected the estate, or for any other cause the court finds necessary. The powers cease at once and the court appoints a replacement.
  • Handover. RCW 11.28.290 makes a personal representative who resigns, dies or loses letters account for and deliver every dollar, deed and paper to the successor, at the time and in the manner the court orders.
  • Suit. RCW 11.28.300 lets the succeeding or remaining personal representative proceed against the delinquent former personal representative, against that person's own representatives, against the sureties of either, or against anyone else holding part of the estate.
  • Surcharge. RCW 11.68.070 gives any party a verified petition under chapter 11.96A RCW for a finding of breached duty, exceeded authority, abused discretion or a removal ground. Remedies run from money damages and surcharge through restricting the powers, removal and fees. When the court restricts powers it endorses the words "powers restricted" on the original order and on the letters.

One deadline governs the surety side. RCW 11.28.235 requires all actions against sureties to be commenced within six years after the revocation or surrender of letters of administration or the death of the principal.

How the Bond Ends

Both Washington closing routes discharge the bond, and they do it differently.

Nonintervention closing. RCW 11.68.110 closes a nonintervention estate by declaration of completion of probate rather than a decree. The notice that goes with the declaration warns interested parties that the personal representative "and any bond ensuring the proper actions of the personal representative" will be discharged. If nobody petitions in the window, the section says that where the personal representative was required to furnish bond, any bond furnished is automatically discharged upon the discharge of the personal representative, without a further order of the court.

Supervised closing. RCW 11.76.030 closes a court-supervised estate through a verified final report and petition for distribution, which may ask the court for settlement of the estate, distribution of the property and discharge of the personal representative. Subsection (2) adds a prompt worth calendaring: unless the estate is closed earlier, the court may presume it is ready to close 24 months after the date of appointment.

Send the surety a copy of the discharge when it issues. A company that never learns the estate closed keeps renewing a bond that no longer secures anything, and the estate keeps paying for it.

Washington Publishes No Statewide Bond Form

The Washington Courts forms library opens with the line "Here you will find forms that are used statewide in Washington Courts," and its categories are Accessing the Courts, Behavioral Health, Criminal Law, Family Law, Guardianships and Conservatorships or Other Protective Arrangements, Financial, Juvenile Court, Protection Orders, Restore Rights, and Voluntary Waiver of Firearm Rights. Decedent estates are not on that list. There is no statewide Washington personal representative bond form to download, and the same page tells you where to look instead: "Your Court may have additional forms you must file in a case. Please check with your local Court."

So the paper comes from the Superior Court where the estate is filed, and a corporate surety normally supplies its own bond form for the court to approve. The Washington probate court directory maps all 39 counties to their Superior Court and clerk.

Once filed, the bond becomes a permanent court record. RCW 11.28.085 points to RCW 36.23.030, which makes the clerk of the superior court keep a record of wills and bonds, with originals placed in the original file and preserved or duplicated under RCW 36.23.065.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Washington require an executor to post a bond?

Not in most estates. RCW 11.28.185 removes the bond outright in three situations: the will manifests an intent that the personal representative not furnish bond or other security, the personal representative is the surviving spouse or domestic partner and the whole estate will be distributable to that spouse after expenses and creditor claims, or a bank or trust company authorized to act as personal representative is appointed. One situation makes a bond mandatory, and every remaining case is discretionary. The statute reads: in all other cases, 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.

How much is a Washington probate bond?

RCW 11.28.185 gives no formula and no percentage for an ordinary estate. The amount is what the Superior Court directs. The one sized rule in the section covers a personal representative appointed under RCW 11.28.120(3) who is not a bank, trust company or attorney-owned professional entity, and it calls for a bond commensurate with the major probate assets identified under RCW 11.28.110(1)(d). RCW 11.28.110(2) explains why a petition has to value anything at all: except to the extent necessary to determine bond, the specific value, location, provenance and condition of each major probate asset need not be described.

Does a will waiving bond bind the Washington court?

For the appointment, yes. RCW 11.28.185 says that when the will manifests that intent, the personal representative shall not be required to give bond or other security as a condition of appointment. The word is shall, not may. That waiver does not lock the file forever. The same section lets the court at any time after appointment require a bond or additional bond, and RCW 11.28.210 lets any person interested complain of the sufficiency of a bond by verified petition or otherwise, with the court free to act on its own motion.

Who can sign as surety on a Washington probate bond?

An authorized surety insurer, or an individual who qualifies. RCW 19.72.020 requires each individual surety to be a Washington resident and bars an attorney-at-law, sheriff, clerk of a court of record or other officer of that court. RCW 11.28.220 adds superior court judges and the deputies of those officers for probate bonds. RCW 19.72.030 requires separate property worth the amount stated in the bond, over and above all debts and liabilities and exclusive of property exempt from execution. A corporate bond runs through chapter 48.28 RCW instead, and RCW 48.28.010 says a bond backed by an authorized surety insurer must be approved and accepted, with no justification by the surety needed.

Who pays for a Washington executor bond?

The estate carries the premium. RCW 48.28.020 lets a fiduciary required by law to give bonds include, as part of lawful expense allowed by the court that appointed the fiduciary, the reasonable amount paid as premium to the authorized surety insurer or surplus line surety insurer that issued the bond. Washington sets no statutory rate, so the insurer prices the bond against the amount, the assets and the applicant's credit. Record the premium in the estate accounting the day it is paid and keep the invoice with the receipts.

When does a Washington executor bond end?

With the discharge of the personal representative. RCW 11.68.110 says that where the personal representative was required to furnish bond and a declaration of completion of probate is filed under that section, any bond furnished is automatically discharged upon the discharge of the personal representative, without a further order. A supervised estate closes the other way, through the final report and petition for distribution in RCW 11.76.030, which asks the court for settlement, distribution and discharge. RCW 11.28.235 still allows an action against the sureties within six years after the revocation or surrender of letters or the death of the principal.

Related Guides

Bond amounts, waivers and surety approvals sit with the judge, so the answer in one Washington estate can differ from the answer in the next. Confirm the figure and the paperwork with the Superior Court handling the file or a licensed Washington attorney, and work the rest of the series from the Washington probate hub.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of August 8, 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 Washington can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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