Washington Probate Cost: One Flat $290, Statewide
Washington prices the opening of a probate with a single statutory amount that does not move with the value of the estate. There is no percentage, no probate tax and no county variation, and a qualifying small estate skips the courthouse entirely.
Opening a Washington probate costs $290 whatever the estate is worth. RCW 36.18.020(2)(f) charges the party instituting probate proceedings a $200 fee at the time of filing the first document, RCW 36.18.020(5)(c) adds a $40 surcharge, and RCW 36.18.020(6) adds a $50 surcharge. All three sit in the same section in mandatory language, so no county clerk can vary them and the total is identical in all 39 county superior courts. A $50,000 estate and a $50,000,000 estate pay the same $290, because there is no bracket table, no percentage and no probate tax anywhere in chapter 36.18 RCW.
Two figures cause most of the confusion. The $50 surcharge is new, added by 2025 c 357 effective July 27, 2025, so any source quoting $240 was written before that date and a source quoting $200 has dropped both surcharges. And the $100,000 in RCW 11.62.010 is not a fee band at all: it is the ceiling on the small estate affidavit, which involves no court filing and therefore costs nothing. Beyond the filing fee, plan separately for certified copies of the letters at $5 each, for newspaper publication if the personal representative chooses to give notice to creditors, for a bond premium in the minority of estates that need one, and for whatever the personal representative and any attorney are paid.
Quick Summary
- To open a probate
- $290$200 plus a $40 and a $50 surcharge (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f), (5)(c), (6)), identical in all 39 counties
- Small estate affidavit
- $0No court filing, so no court fee (RCW 11.62.010)
- Certified copy of the letters
- $5RCW 36.18.016(9), with no free allowance. Order several at the outset
- Personal representative and attorney fees
- No percentageSuch compensation as the court deems just and reasonable (RCW 11.48.210)
There is no county fee schedule to shop in Washington. RCW 36.18.020 tells the clerks of the superior courts that they shall collect the $200 probate fee and that both surcharges must be collected, so a county clerk has no instrument with which to vary the amount, and RCW 36.18.060 requires it in advance. Choosing a county decides where you file rather than what you pay, since RCW 11.96A.040(1) gives the superior court of every county original jurisdiction over the probate of wills and the administration of estates. Two things look like county variation and are not. Revenue destination moves: 46 percent of the filing fee goes to the state general fund under RCW 36.18.025 and part goes to the county law library fund, but the payer writes the same cheque. And Washington publishes no statewide judiciary fee schedule at all, because RCW 36.18.080 makes posting the fee list a duty of each county officer in that officer own office. What genuinely differs locally sits outside the filing fee: newspaper publication of the notice to creditors, which no statute prices; a permissive $30 charge for processing an ex parte order that RCW 36.18.016(12) lets a clerk collect but does not require; and recording a deed, which goes to the county auditor under RCW 36.18.010 rather than to the clerk. Confirm the current total with the county clerk where the decedent lived.
Typical Total Cost Ranges
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| Procedure | Estate Size | Court Fee | Timeline | Attorney? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonintervention Administration | Any estate. RCW 11.68.011 has no value threshold; the gate is solvency plus one of the three qualifying conditions in subsection (2) | $290 to open, from the $200 fee in RCW 36.18.020(2)(f) plus the $40 surcharge in (5)(c) and the $50 surcharge in (6). Nothing further is charged for the petition for nonintervention powers, because the fee attaches to the first document only | Usually 6 to 12 months | No statutory requirement; counsel is usual because Washington publishes no statewide probate forms | The ordinary solvent Washington estate, with or without a will |
| Supervised Administration | Any estate. This is where an estate lands when nonintervention powers are not sought, are refused, or are later restricted, including on insolvency | $290 to open, the same statutory total, plus the cost of publishing and mailing the hearing notice on the final report | Commonly 12 to 24 months | No statutory requirement; counsel is the norm because the estate keeps returning to court | An insolvent or contested estate, or one where the beneficiaries want each step reviewed |
| Small Estate Affidavit | $100,000 or less on the decedent's entire estate subject to probate, net of liens and encumbrances and excluding the surviving spouse's or domestic partner's community property interest. Personal property and debts only | $0. There is no petition, no clerk and no case, so nothing in RCW 36.18.020 or RCW 36.18.016 can attach | Usually 2 to 3 months, floored by the 40-day wait and the 10-day notice to other successors | No | A modest estate of accounts, wages, vehicles and belongings with no Washington real property |
| Adjudication of Testacy or Intestacy and Heirship | Any estate where nobody needs to be appointed to act and the only task is to establish who owns what | $290 to open, on an application under RCW 11.20.020 or RCW 11.28.110 that does not seek the appointment of a personal representative | Usually 4 to 6 months, with the RCW 11.28.340 order treated as the equivalent of a final decree four months after entry and notice | No statutory requirement; worth counsel where title has to satisfy a lender or a title company | An estate with nothing to administer and one question left: who inherits |
| Will Filed With No Probate to Follow | Any estate where the will is lodged with the clerk but no administration is contemplated | $20 under RCW 36.18.012(7). Depositing a will before death under chapter 11.12 RCW is also $20, under RCW 36.18.016(27) | Same day | No | Meeting the RCW 11.20.010 duty to deliver a will to the court within 30 days of learning of the death, where no estate needs opening |
Additional Costs to Expect
Opening a Probate
RCW 36.18.020(2)(f) reads that in probate proceedings the party instituting such proceedings shall pay at the time of filing the first document therein a fee of $200. RCW 36.18.020(5)(c) then adds a $40 surcharge on all filing fees required to be collected under the section other than three excepted subsections, and RCW 36.18.020(6) adds a $50 surcharge on filings under subsections (2)(a), (b), (c), (e), (f) and (g). Probate is (2)(f), so both surcharges reach it and the total is $290. The charge attaches to the act of opening rather than to the estate, so it is paid once, on the first document, and it does not scale with value in any respect.
The Small Estate Route Costs Nothing
This is the most useful Washington cost fact and the one a template borrowed from another state gets wrong. RCW 11.62.010 is an affidavit handed to whoever holds the asset, not a petition handed to a clerk, so there is no filing to charge for. Qualifying takes four conditions rather than one: a probate estate of $100,000 or less measured net of liens and without the surviving spouse's or domestic partner's community property interest, personal property and debts only, at least 40 days since the death, and all debts including funeral and burial expenses paid or provided for. RCW 11.62.010(4) adds that no release from any Washington state or local taxing authority may be required first, so no tax-clearance cost attaches either.
Certified Copies and Certificates
RCW 36.18.016(9) charges $5 for the issuance of a certificate of qualification and a certified copy of letters of administration, letters testamentary or letters of guardianship. That is the document a bank, a title company or a transfer agent asks for as proof of authority, and the subsection grants no free allowance, so order several at the outset rather than discovering that four institutions each want their own. A certified copy of another court document is $5 for the first page plus $1 for each additional page under RCW 36.18.016(4)(a), an uncertified copy is 50 cents a page under (4)(c), executing a certificate is $2 under (5), and an additional seal for an authentication or exemplification, which is what an ancillary proceeding in another state will want, is $2 under (4)(b).
Other Court Filings in an Estate
Filing a will only, where no probate is contemplated, is $20 under RCW 36.18.012(7), and depositing a will before death under chapter 11.12 RCW is $20 under RCW 36.18.016(27). Contesting a will admitted to probate, asking to admit a rejected will, or objecting to a written agreement under RCW 11.96A.220 is priced at $200 by RCW 36.18.020(2)(g), and because that subsection sits inside both surcharges the total is $290. Filing a petition, agreement or memorandum in a nonjudicial probate dispute under RCW 11.96A.220 within an existing case in the same court is $20 under RCW 36.18.012(8). Appellate review under RAP 5.1(b) is $250 under RCW 36.18.018(2) plus a $40 surcharge under (4), so $290 again from a different statute.
Publication of the Notice to Creditors
Left unpriced rather than estimated. No Washington statute sets a publication charge, there is no statewide judiciary schedule to carry one, and legal-newspaper rates differ by paper and by county, so any number here would be invented. Three verified facts are more useful. Publication is optional: RCW 11.40.020(1) says the personal representative may give notice, and if notice is given it must be published once each week for three successive weeks in a legal newspaper in the county where the estate is being administered. Publishing starts the four-month claim bar in RCW 11.40.051, and without it the bar runs 24 months from the date of death instead. And the notice must also be mailed, with the decedent's social security number, to the Department of Social and Health Services Office of Financial Recovery, which costs postage rather than a fee.
Bond Premium and Appraisals
RCW 11.28.185 removes the bond requirement entirely in three common situations: where the will manifests an intent that the personal representative not furnish security, where the personal representative is the surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner and the whole estate after expenses and creditor claims will be distributable to that spouse or partner, and where a bank or trust company authorised to act is appointed. A bond is required where the court appoints a suitable person under RCW 11.28.120(3) who is not an institutional fiduciary. The premium is a surety-market price and no Washington official source publishes a rate, so none is estimated here. One related zero is worth knowing: RCW 36.18.016(8) charges $2 for approving a bond in other than civil actions and probate proceedings, so the clerk bond-approval charge does not reach a probate. Appraisal fees are also a market rate, and RCW 11.68.100(2) confirms an appraiser fee charged to the estate is reviewable for reasonableness at closing.
Personal Representative Compensation
RCW 11.48.210 is headed Compensation - Attorney's fees, and it sets no schedule. Where the will provides for compensation, that provision is full compensation unless the personal representative files a written renunciation in court before qualifying, which is a tighter deadline than most states impose. Where no compensation is provided, where it is renounced, or where the estate is intestate, the court allows what it deems just and reasonable. Additional compensation is available for services as attorney and for other services not required of a personal representative. The court may deny compensation altogether or reduce it where the representative has failed to discharge the duties in any respect, and a person appointed under RCW 11.28.120(3) may take nothing from anyone other than the estate unless the court allows it. SPR 98.12W requires the amount claimed to be clearly set out in the application with notice to interested parties, and RCW 11.68.100(2) lets an heir, devisee or legatee whose share would be reduced ask the court to determine reasonableness at the closing hearing.
Attorney Fees
Washington sets no statutory attorney-fee schedule and no percentage for probate representation. RCW 11.48.210 provides that an attorney performing services for the estate at the instance of the personal representative shall have such compensation out of the estate as the court deems just and reasonable, and otherwise the fee is agreed between the client and the lawyer. No hourly or flat range appears here because no official Washington source publishes one, and importing another state figure would misstate this market. Where fees are charged to the estate they are reviewable under SPR 98.12W and RCW 11.68.100(2), and in a contested matter RCW 11.96A.150 goes further: the court may order costs including reasonable attorney fees against any party, out of the estate or trust, or against a nonprobate asset that is the subject of the proceeding.
Recording a Deed Out of the Estate
This is a county auditor charge rather than a court charge, and in Washington the surcharges dwarf the page fee. RCW 36.18.010(1) charges $5 for the first page and $1 for each additional page. On top of that sit a $5 historical-documents surcharge under RCW 36.22.170(1)(a), a $3 state library surcharge under RCW 36.18.010(11), the $183 document recording surcharge under RCW 36.22.250(1), and the $100 covenant homeownership program assessment under RCW 36.22.185(1). None of those exemptions reaches a deed out of an estate. The range rather than a single number is deliberate: RCW 36.18.010(12) charges a further $2 only until a state financing contract is paid in full, and nothing on the face of the code says whether it still is. A certified copy from the auditor is $3 for the first page under RCW 36.18.010(2), which is a different office and a different rate from the clerk $5.
Fee Waiver for a Filer Who Cannot Pay
Washington waives probate filing fees under court rule GR 34, not under the statute that looks like it should apply. GR 34(a) lets any individual seek a waiver of filing fees or surcharges whose payment is a condition precedent to securing access to judicial relief, and the rule comment expressly names the legislatively established surcharges in RCW 36.18.020(5). An applicant qualifies by receiving assistance under a needs-based means-tested program, by household income at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline, by recurring basic living expenses that leave them unable to pay, or by other compelling circumstances. The application uses the mandatory pattern form WPF GR 34.0100 with a Financial Statement attached, and the rule states there shall be no locally imposed fee for making an application. Do not cite RCW 36.18.022 for this: it reaches only RCW 36.18.016(2)(b) and RCW 36.18.020(2)(a) and (b), and the probate fee is (2)(f).
Estate Tax, Inheritance Tax and the Excise Tax on a Deed
Washington levies no inheritance tax, so a beneficiary owes the state nothing on what they receive. Washington does have its own estate tax under chapter 83.100 RCW, imposed by RCW 83.100.040 and filed on the Washington State Estate and Transfer Tax Return. The applicable exclusion amount in RCW 83.100.020(1)(a) is keyed to the date of death rather than the filing date, and for a death today it is $3,000,000. That is a tax administered by the Department of Revenue and paid by the estate, so it never appears in the court filing total. A deed distributed out of an estate also raises a real estate excise tax question under chapter 82.45 RCW, where WAC 458-61A-202 governs the inheritance or devise exemption. Even where no tax is due, RCW 82.45.180(1)(a) has the county treasurer collect a $5 fee on a transaction that requires no payment of tax.
One more cost source to check: if the person who died received Medicaid long-term care benefits, the state may file a recovery claim against the estate. The Washington Medicaid estate recovery guide explains when that applies.