This article covers the Case Details tab in the Intestate Probate Opening Package. The Case Details tab controls case caption information, venue, and several intestate-specific questions that directly affect the petition language and legal strategy. Each field on this tab needs an answer for each matter; some fields appear only when the Decedent was married.
Your responses here affect the Petition, the proposed Order, bond exemption analysis, and certain notice and waiver requirements.
Case Number and Court Information
Enter the case number if one has already been assigned, and select the court county. If the matter is filed in King County, an additional field will appear to select the courthouse location.
If no case number has been assigned yet, leave that field blank. You can return to enter it once the case has been filed.
Attorney Electronic Signatures
This question asks whether to apply attorney electronic signatures (/s/) under GR 30(d)(2)(A) to eligible filings in this matter. The same question appears on the Case Details tab of the Opening, Post-Appointment, and Closing Probate Packages.
| Answer Yes | The attorney signature block on each eligible filing prints “/s/” followed by the attorney’s name in place of a blank signature line. |
| Answer No | The attorney signature block prints a blank signature line for a handwritten signature. |
Only the attorney’s own signature block changes. Signature lines for your client and any other signer, including verifications and declarations, are not affected.
The eligible filings are:
- Opening Package: Petition to Appoint Probate GAL, Motion to Waive Probate GAL, and Notice of Hearing to Open Probate (counties other than King).
- Post-Appointment Package: Notice of Appearance, Notice of Appointment Pleading, Motion to Extend Time for Inventory (including the “Presented by” block on the proposed order), Notice of Rejection of Creditor Claim, Status Report to Court, Notice of Withdrawal, and Blank Notice of Hearing (counties other than King).
- Closing Package: Notice of Filing Declaration of Completion.
All other documents print a blank attorney signature line regardless of your answer.
Proof of Decedent’s Death
Select how you will provide proof of the decedent’s death to the court.
| Redacted death certificate with cover sheet | The most common method. The system generates a cover sheet to accompany the redacted certificate. |
| Attorney declaration confirming possession of the certificate | An attorney declaration is included in the petition package in lieu of filing the certificate itself. |
| Attorney declaration confirming death via funeral home | Used when the attorney has confirmed the decedent’s death through the funeral home rather than through possession of the certificate. Enter the funeral home name when prompted. |
| Redacted death certificate without a cover sheet | Files the certificate directly without a cover sheet. |
| Use a custom description | Enter your own description of how proof of death will be provided. |
Surviving Spouse as Sole Heir
This question appears when the decedent was married at death. It asks Is the surviving spouse the sole heir of the estate? The choices are Yes, the spouse is the sole heir of the estate and No, there are other heirs who will share in the estate.
| Answer Yes | All property is community property and all children are joint children of both the decedent and the surviving spouse. The spouse is the sole heir under RCW 11.02.070. |
| Answer No | The estate includes separate property, partial community property, or children who are not joint children of both spouses. Other heirs share in the estate alongside the spouse. |
This answer has significant downstream consequences Your response determines whether the bond exemption under RCW 11.28.185 applies, affects nonintervention power eligibility under RCW 11.68.011(2)(b), and controls whether certain spousal waiver documents are required. Confirm the character of the estate’s assets and the parentage of all children before answering.
Spouse’s Right to Administer Community Property
The intestate interview does not ask whether the Petition will be filed within 40 days of death, and does not offer a waiver of the spouse’s right to administer community property. RCW 11.28.030 gives the surviving spouse that right, and requires notice when another person applies within 40 days, in estates where there is a Will: the statute applies “notwithstanding any provisions of the will to the contrary” and to an application “for letters testamentary.”
In an intestate probate, the surviving spouse has first priority to serve under RCW 11.28.120(1)(a). When a petition for letters of administration is presented by anyone other than the surviving spouse or a person the spouse designated, RCW 11.28.131 requires notice of the hearing to the surviving spouse at least ten days before the hearing, unless the spouse waives notice in writing.
Lack of Will and Heir Search
The questions about how the Petitioner knows the Decedent left no Will, and how the Decedent’s heirs were identified, are on the Lack of Will and Heir Search tab, which follows this one. See this article for details.