Skip to main content
Washington Will Contests
Support GuideWashington26 min read

Washington Will Contests

Contesting a Washington will runs on RCW 11.24.010: four months from the order probating or rejecting it, 90 days to serve, and the contestant proves the case.

By Settled Editorial

Washington gives a will contest four months. RCW 11.24.010 lets any person interested in a will appear within four months immediately following the probate or rejection of that will and contest its validity by petition to the court having jurisdiction. The clock runs from the court's order, not from the death, and the section closes itself: where nobody files and serves a petition in time, the probate or rejection is binding and final.

This page covers the grounds RCW 11.24.010 names, the two clocks it sets, who carries the burden, what the petition costs, and what a successful contest actually does. Every rule below was read at the Revised Code of Washington on August 8, 2026. It describes Washington procedure and does not tell any reader to challenge a will. Whether a ground exists in a particular estate turns on medical records, testimony and dates no article can weigh, so that question belongs with a licensed Washington attorney and with the county Superior Court holding the case.

The Four Months Run From the Order, Not the Death

RCW 11.20.020(1) is where the clock starts. Applications for probate of a will go to the judge of the court having jurisdiction, and the court may immediately hear the proofs and either probate or reject the will as the testimony justifies. The judge then enters a formal order establishing and probating the will, or refusing to. The statute adds the sentence that sets up this whole page: "such order shall be conclusive except in the event of a contest of such will as hereinafter provided."

So the four months attach to a docket entry. They do not attach to the funeral, to the reading of the will, or to the day an heir first heard about any of it.

Washington does make the court's order findable. RCW 11.28.237(1) requires the personal representative, or an attorney working for the estate at the representative's instance, to serve written notice of the appointment and the pendency of the probate personally or by mail on each heir, legatee and devisee, and on each beneficiary or transferee of a nonprobate asset whose names and addresses are reasonably known. That has to happen within 20 days after appointment, and proof of the mailing or service goes into the file by affidavit or declaration.

One caution about that section. It was amended by House Bill 2445, Chapter 204, Laws of 2026, and the only change to subsection (1) was rewriting the spelled-out word "twenty" as the digits "20". The period itself did not move, so a summary claiming Washington shortened this notice deadline in 2026 is misreading a drafting change.

Need help with your probate case?

Answer a few questions to see whether Washington probate is required and which process applies.

Take the 2-minute assessment

Two Clocks, Not One

RCW 11.24.010 sets a filing deadline and a service deadline, and it treats them differently.

The filing deadline is the four months. The statute is explicit about what stops it: "For the purpose of tolling the four-month limitations period, a contest is deemed commenced when a petition is filed with the court and not when served upon the personal representative." A contestant who reaches the clerk's counter on the last day has met it.

The service deadline is separate and longer. "The petitioner shall personally serve the personal representative within ninety days after the date of filing the petition. If, following filing, service is not so made, the action is deemed to not have been commenced for purposes of tolling the statute of limitations." Missing the 90 days undoes the filing retroactively, which is a harsher result than it first sounds: by then the four months have usually run, so the contest cannot be refiled.

StepClock startsDeadlineStatute
File the contest petitionThe order probating or rejecting the will4 monthsRCW 11.24.010
Personally serve the personal representativeThe date the petition is filed90 daysRCW 11.24.010
Give notice of the hearing to the partiesThe hearing date20 days before itRCW 11.96A.110(1)
Answer the petitionThe hearing date5 days before itRCW 11.96A.100(5)

Both of the RCW 11.24.010 rows appear in the wider schedule at Washington probate deadlines, which sets them beside the creditor bar and the inventory duties running at the same time.

Who Can File

RCW 11.24.010 opens with "any person interested in any will." The code does not define that phrase inside chapter 11.24 RCW, so the notice section does the work instead.

RCW 11.24.020 requires notice, in the manner set by RCW 11.96A.100, to the executors who have taken upon themselves the execution of the will, to the administrators with the will annexed, to all legatees named in the will or to their guardians where any of them are minors, to their personal representatives where any of them have died, and to all persons interested in the matter as RCW 11.96A.030 defines that group.

Read the cross-reference carefully. RCW 11.24.020 points at subsection (5) and carries a reviser's note saying RCW 11.96A.030 was alphabetized under RCW 1.08.015(2)(k), which moved that content to subsection (6). Subsection (6) now defines "persons interested in the estate, trust, nonprobate asset, other property passing at death, or custodial property" as everyone legally or beneficially interested in it, everyone holding powers with respect to it, the attorney general where a charitable trust would make that office a necessary party, all fiduciaries, and all custodians of custodial property. Subsection (5) today defines "party," which is a related but narrower idea.

Standing is a property question, not a feelings question. A caregiver who expected a gift, or a relative who dislikes the split, holds no legal or beneficial interest in the estate.

The Grounds RCW 11.24.010 Names

Washington packs its grounds into a single sentence, and it is worth reading whole: "Issues respecting the competency of the deceased to make a last will and testament, or respecting the execution by a deceased of the last will and testament under restraint or undue influence or fraudulent representations, or for any other cause affecting the validity of the will or a part of it, shall be tried and determined by the court."

Four things come out of that sentence.

Competency

RCW 11.12.010 states the standard in one line: any person of sound mind who has attained the age of eighteen years may, by last will, devise all of their estate, real and personal. Sound mind is measured at the signing, which is why the drafting file, the medical record from that week and the memory of the two witnesses carry more weight than a diagnosis dated afterward.

Restraint or undue influence

The statute names undue influence and never defines it. Claims of this shape rest on circumstances rather than a single document: who arranged the appointment, who sat in the room, who held the power of attorney, who gained, and how far the new will departs from every earlier version.

Washington does write one presumption into the code. RCW 11.12.160 says a will is not invalid because an interested witness signed it, but unless at least two other subscribing witnesses are disinterested, a gift to a subscribing witness creates a rebuttable presumption that the witness procured the gift by duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence. Subsections (3) and (4) then limit the consequence: an interested witness who fails to rebut it takes only so much of the gift as does not exceed the share that would pass to that witness if the will were not established, and the presumption has no other effect.

Fraudulent representations

The third named ground reaches a will signed because someone lied to the testator about a fact that shaped the disposition. It sits beside undue influence in the statute and is proved the same way, through documents, timing and testimony.

Any other cause affecting the validity of the will or a part of it

This is the clause that pulls the rest of Title 11 RCW into a contest.

RCW 11.12.020(1) sets execution. Every will must be in writing, signed by the testator or by another person under the testator's direction in the testator's presence or electronic presence, and attested by two or more competent witnesses who either subscribe their names to the will or sign an affidavit complying with RCW 11.20.020(2), while in the presence or electronic presence of the testator and at the testator's direction or request. The same subsection then narrows the ground considerably with a proviso: a will executed in the mode prescribed by the law of the place where it was executed, or of the testator's domicile either at execution or at death, is deemed legally executed here. A document that would fail Washington's own rules can still stand. The mirror image of this ground is written up at Washington will requirements.

RCW 11.12.040 supplies revocation. A will or any part of it can be revoked by a subsequent will that revokes it expressly or by inconsistency, or by being burnt, torn, canceled, obliterated, destroyed, or by a physical act done with the intent and for the purpose of revoking it. Where another person performed the act, the testator's direction and the facts of the injury or destruction must be proved by two witnesses. Revoking a will in its entirety revokes its codicils unless that would run against the testator's intent.

Read the words "or a part of it" in both statutes. A Washington contest does not have to be all or nothing.

What is not a ground

  • An uneven split. A will that favors one child is unusual, not invalid.
  • A gift to a witness, by itself. RCW 11.12.160(2) says so directly, and the presumption it creates reduces a gift rather than voiding a will.
  • Disliking the personal representative. That objection attacks the appointment rather than the document, and it travels a different route. The job itself is covered at Washington executor duties.

The Contestant Carries the Burden

RCW 11.24.030 is one sentence and it decides a lot of cases. The previous order of the court probating, or refusing to probate, the will is prima facie evidence of the legality of the will if probated, or of its illegality if rejected, and the burden of proving illegality, or legality in the rejected case, rests on the person contesting.

Note the symmetry. Someone asking a Washington court to admit a will it already turned down carries the burden of proving that will legal. The order under attack starts out presumed right either way.

How the Petition Moves Through Superior Court

Two chapters run at once here, and RCW 11.96A.080(2) sorts out which governs what. The Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act, chapter 11.96A RCW, "shall not supersede, but shall supplement" the provisions of chapters 11.20, 11.24, 11.28, 11.40, 11.42 and 11.56 RCW. The four-month limit stays a chapter 11.24 RCW rule. The machinery around it is TEDRA's.

RCW 11.96A.090 sets the shape. A judicial proceeding under Title 11 RCW is a special proceeding under the civil rules, the title controls over any inconsistent civil rule, the action must be commenced as a new action, and once commenced it may be consolidated with an existing proceeding on a party's motion for good cause or on the court's own motion.

RCW 11.96A.100 then supplies the procedure, and several of its rules surprise people who expect an ordinary civil case.

  • A summons goes out with the petition, in language the statute prints verbatim in subsection (3), telling the respondent to answer no later than five days before the hearing date.
  • The clerk sets the hearing on application by a party. No court order is needed to fix the time or approve the form of the notice.
  • The answer and any counterclaims are due five days before the hearing, and replies two days before.
  • The initial hearing is a hearing on the merits to resolve all issues of fact and law, unless a party requests otherwise in a petition or answer.
  • Testimony may be by affidavit, and any party may move for summary judgment at any point.

RCW 11.96A.110(1) requires notice of the hearing to be personally served on or mailed to all parties or their legal or virtual representatives at least twenty days before it, unless a different period is set by statute or ordered by the court, with proof filed at or before the hearing.

Two off-ramps exist. RCW 11.96A.170 preserves a jury where a party is entitled to one and demands it, and directs the court to settle and frame the issues where the written pleadings do not. RCW 11.96A.300 lets any party force the matter into mediation by serving a written notice in the form the statute prints; a party who objects must petition the superior court within twenty days of service, and absent that objection every party owes a list of acceptable mediators within thirty days.

Settlement is the common ending. RCW 11.96A.220 makes a written agreement signed by all parties binding and conclusive on all persons interested in the estate, trust or nonprobate asset, subject to the judicial approval provisions of RCW 11.96A.240, and a signature by someone acting as a virtual representative under RCW 11.96A.120 binds everyone that person represents.

What the Petition Costs

Washington prices a will contest by statute, and it is the same $290 that opens a probate.

ChargeAmountStatute
Petition to contest a will admitted to probate$200RCW 36.18.020(2)(g)
Surcharge on filing fees$40RCW 36.18.020(5)(c)
Legacy project and judicial stabilization surcharge$50RCW 36.18.020(6)
Total$290

The $200 line is broader than its name suggests. RCW 36.18.020(2)(g) charges it "for filing any petition to contest a will admitted to probate or a petition to admit a will which has been rejected, or a petition objecting to a written agreement or memorandum as provided in RCW 11.96A.220." One fee covers all three moves.

Both surcharges reach it. Subsection (5)(c) applies to all filing fees collected under the section except those under subsections (2)(b), (d) and (h), and (2)(g) is not among the exceptions. Subsection (6) names (2)(g) directly. RCW 36.18.020 was last amended by 2025 c 357 s 1, so read the current subsections rather than an older fee summary. The parallel figure for opening an estate is worked through in the Washington probate guide.

What a Successful Contest Actually Does

RCW 11.24.040 states the remedy. Where the court decides on trial of the issue that the will or a part of it is for any reason invalid, or that it is not sufficiently proved to have been the last will of the testator, the will or that part and the probate of it are annulled and revoked, and to that extent the powers of the personal representative cease. The section protects the representative for anything done in good faith beforehand.

Two consequences follow. Partial relief is real, so a court can strike one provision and leave the rest standing. And a contest that takes down the entire will hands the estate to the descent statutes, which do not always pay a challenger more than the will did. What those statutes would produce instead is set out at Washington intestate succession.

Who Pays for It

Two sections answer this, and the second is wider than the first.

RCW 11.24.050 covers the contest itself. Where the probate is revoked or the will annulled, assessment of costs sits in the court's discretion. Where the will is sustained, the court may assess costs against the contestant, "including, unless it appears that the contestant acted with probable cause and in good faith, such reasonable attorney's fees as the court may deem proper." Probable cause and good faith are the shield against a fee award, and a losing contestant who had neither is exposed.

RCW 11.96A.150 then gives the superior court, or any court on appeal, discretion to order costs including reasonable attorneys' fees paid to any party from any other party, from the assets of the estate or trust, or from a nonprobate asset that is the subject of the proceeding. The court may weigh any factors it finds relevant, which may include whether the litigation benefits the estate. Subsection (2) says the section is not limited by any other specific costs provision, naming RCW 11.68.070 and RCW 11.24.050, unless that statute specifically provides otherwise.

When the Will Never Reaches the Court

Some Washington disputes start because the document is sitting in a drawer, or because it has gone missing.

RCW 11.20.010 puts two duties on paper. Anyone having custody or control of a will must deliver it within thirty days after learning of the testator's death, either to the court having jurisdiction or to the person named in the will as executor. An executor holding a will has forty days after learning of the death to get it to the court. Anyone who willfully violates the section is liable to an aggrieved party for the damages the violation causes.

RCW 11.20.070 covers the will that cannot be produced. Where a will was lost or destroyed under circumstances that do not revoke it, the court may take proof of its execution and validity and establish it, after notice to all persons interested. The evidentiary bar is high: subsection (2) requires the provisions to be proved by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence, consisting at least in part of a witness to either the contents of the will or the authenticity of a copy. Subsection (3) requires the established provisions to be stated distinctly in the judgment, and the judgment to be recorded as wills are recorded. The same section catches an electronic will whose custody a qualified custodian has not maintained, which RCW 11.20.020(3) sends here.

Washington Wrote No No-Contest Rule Into These Chapters

Plenty of states legislated whether a forfeiture clause survives a challenge brought in good faith. Washington did not put that answer in the chapters a contest runs through. Read on August 8, 2026, the five sections of chapter 11.24 RCW, the thirty-five sections of chapter 11.12 RCW, the thirty-seven sections of chapter 11.96A RCW and the four sections of chapter 11.103 RCW contain no provision validating, limiting or penalizing a no-contest clause.

The closest thing the code offers is the probable-cause-and-good-faith standard RCW 11.24.050 uses for attorney fees. A clause in a Washington will can still put a gift at risk, and how a court would treat a particular one is a question for a Washington attorney holding the document. Weighing what a clause would forfeit against what a successful challenge would produce settles many of these arguments before anyone reaches the merits.

If the Money Sits in a Revocable Trust

A short pour-over will in front of a funded revocable trust is common, and attacking that trust runs on a different calendar.

RCW 11.103.050(1) allows a judicial proceeding contesting the validity of a trust that was revocable at the trustor's death within the earlier of twenty-four months after the trustor's death, or four months after the trustee sent the person a notice carrying the trust's name and date, the identity of the trustor or trustors, the trustee's name, address and telephone number, and notice of the time allowed for commencing a proceeding.

Subsection (2) lets the trustee distribute the trust property after the trustor's death unless the trustee knows of a pending proceeding contesting the trust, or a potential contestant notified the trustee of a possible proceeding and a proceeding is commenced within sixty days after that notification. Subsection (3) makes a beneficiary of a trust later determined invalid liable to return any distribution received.

Capacity to attack is measured on the will standard. RCW 11.103.020 says the capacity required to create, amend, revoke or add property to a revocable trust, or to direct the trustee of one, is the same as the capacity required to make a will. Where these instruments sit in a wider plan is covered at how to avoid probate in Washington.

A Slayer or Abuser Claim Runs on Its Own Track

Washington keeps killing and financial exploitation out of the will contest chapter entirely. RCW 11.84.020 says no slayer or abuser shall in any way acquire any property or receive any benefit as the result of the death of the decedent.

The two findings carry different standards. RCW 11.84.140 makes a final judgment of conviction for the willful and unlawful killing conclusive, treats a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity the same way, and otherwise lets a superior court find slayer status by a preponderance of the evidence. RCW 11.84.150 makes a conviction for conduct constituting financial exploitation conclusive, and otherwise requires clear, cogent, and convincing evidence.

This is not a will contest and it does not answer to the four months. RCW 11.96A.030(2)(e) lists an action or proceeding under chapter 11.84 RCW as a "matter," so it travels the TEDRA route described above.

What This Means for a Washington Will Contest

A Washington contest turns on a short list of questions, and the sections above answer each.

  • The date on the order. RCW 11.24.010 measures four months from the probate or rejection of the will, not from the death. RCW 11.28.237(1) is how most heirs learn that date, within 20 days of the appointment.
  • Both clocks. Filing stops the four months. Personal service on the personal representative within 90 days of filing keeps the filing alive.
  • Standing. "Any person interested in any will," with RCW 11.96A.030(6) supplying the group entitled to notice.
  • The ground. Competency, restraint or undue influence, fraudulent representations, or any other cause affecting the will or a part of it, which pulls in RCW 11.12.010, RCW 11.12.020 and RCW 11.12.040.
  • The burden. RCW 11.24.030 puts it on the contestant and treats the earlier order as prima facie evidence.
  • The cost of losing. RCW 11.24.050 allows attorney fees against a contestant who lacked probable cause and good faith, and RCW 11.96A.150 lets a court move costs in almost any direction.
  • What winning produces. RCW 11.24.040 annuls the will or the offending part. Where nothing else survives, the intestate statutes decide, and they may pay a challenger less than the will did.
  • Whether a trust holds the assets. RCW 11.103.050 runs the earlier of 24 months or four months from the trustee's notice.

This page is general information about Washington will contests. It is not advice about any particular estate or any particular will. Most challenges do not succeed, the burden sits on the person bringing one, and the four-month window closes against a court order that only the docket announces. Whether a ground exists, whether a person has standing, and whether a deadline has already run are questions for a licensed Washington attorney and for the Superior Court of the county holding the estate.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to contest a will in Washington?

Four months. RCW 11.24.010 lets any person interested in a will appear within four months immediately following the probate or rejection of it and contest the will by petition. The four months run from the court's order, not from the death. The same section adds a second clock: the petitioner must personally serve the personal representative within 90 days after the date of filing, and where that service is not made the action counts as never commenced for limitations purposes. Where nobody files and serves in time, the probate or rejection is binding and final.

What are the grounds to contest a will in Washington?

RCW 11.24.010 names them in one sentence. The issues tried and determined by the court are the competency of the deceased to make a last will and testament, execution of the will under restraint or undue influence or fraudulent representations, and any other cause affecting the validity of the will or a part of it. That last clause carries the execution rules at RCW 11.12.020, the age and sound mind requirement at RCW 11.12.010, and revocation at RCW 11.12.040. The phrase "or a part of it" means a contest can reach one provision rather than the whole document.

Who can contest a Washington will?

RCW 11.24.010 opens the door to "any person interested in any will." RCW 11.24.020 then requires notice to the executors who have taken upon themselves the execution of the will, to administrators with the will annexed, to all legatees named in the will, and to all persons interested in the matter as RCW 11.96A.030 defines them. That definition reaches everyone legally or beneficially interested in the estate, everyone holding powers over it, the fiduciaries, and the attorney general where a charitable trust is involved. Disappointment on its own is not an interest.

How much does it cost to file a will contest in Washington?

$290. RCW 36.18.020(2)(g) charges $200 for filing any petition to contest a will admitted to probate, a petition to admit a will that has been rejected, or a petition objecting to a written agreement or memorandum under RCW 11.96A.220. RCW 36.18.020(5)(c) adds a $40 surcharge, which subsection (2)(g) is not excepted from, and RCW 36.18.020(6) adds a $50 surcharge, which names subsection (2)(g). Washington does not band this fee by estate value.

Who has the burden of proof in a Washington will contest?

The contestant. RCW 11.24.030 makes the court's earlier order prima facie evidence of the legality of the will if it was probated, or of its illegality if it was rejected, and it places the burden of proving illegality on the person contesting the probate. The symmetry matters: someone asking the court to admit a will it already rejected carries the burden of proving that will legal.

How long do I have to contest a Washington revocable trust?

RCW 11.103.050(1) sets the earlier of two periods: 24 months after the trustor's death, or four months after the trustee sends the person a notice carrying the trust's name and date, the identity of the trustor, the trustee's name, address and telephone number, and notice of the time allowed for commencing a proceeding. A trustee who wants finality sends that notice, which cuts 24 months down to four. RCW 11.103.020 sets trustor capacity at the same level as the capacity to make a will.

Related Guides

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.

All Washington guides← Back to all articles