The Engagement Letter is a template used to confirm the terms under which a firm represents a Personal Representative (PR) in administering an estate.
The letter establishes:
Who the client is, the PR in their fiduciary capacity
The scope of probate representation
Billing practices and costs, and who pays them
The attorney-client relationship and privilege
When the representation begins and ends
The template is designed to reflect common issues in Washington probate practice, but each firm is responsible for ensuring its engagement letter complies with Washington law, the RPCs, and WSBA policies.
Probate engagements are billed hourly, with an optional advance fee deposit. There is no flat fee option and no third-party payor feature in this letter.
Before You Begin
Two settings live outside this interview and will hold you up if they are missing.
Firm logo. Uploaded under Manage > Settings. The letter cannot draw firm letterhead without it.
Firm attorneys. Entered under Manage > Firm Information. This is where the signing attorney list comes from.
For a walkthrough of both, see How do I complete my new account settings?
The interview has four tabs: Letter Formatting, Client Information, Decedent Information, and Details and Billing.
Letter Formatting Tab
Under Letter Setup, this tab controls how the letter is presented and who signs it: Add firm letterhead to this letter?, How do you want the date to appear?, How will you send this letter?, the RE line, and Which attorney will sign this letter?
The RE line defaults to Estate Administration and can be changed. Choose firm letterhead to draw your firm logo and address, or plain if you print on your own stationery.
For the date, choose Blank for a blank line with the current year, or Custom to enter a fixed date. Use Custom on the version the client signs.
Client Information Tab
Your client is the Personal Representative. This tab captures who they are, how to reach them, and one question that changes the letter.
Is your client a beneficiary of the Estate? Answering yes adds the optional language described under Representation of You as Fiduciary below.
Decedent Information Tab
The Decedent’s details, which populate the definition of the Estate throughout the letter and the RE line if you leave the default in place.
Details and Billing Tab
Three subheadings: The Estate and Your Role, Fee Arrangements, and Duration and Venue.
The Estate and Your Role
Will you prepare state and federal estate tax returns? Answering yes adds estate tax compliance to the described scope.
Whichever way you answer, the letter always states that the firm does not prepare Form 1041 for the Estate or Form 1040 for the Decedent.
Fee Arrangements
This section explains how your firm charges for legal services and costs. Legal services are billed at hourly rates, with work delegated to lower-rate staff when appropriate.
Enter the Hourly rate for the attorney signing this letter ($). If you answer yes to Will you delegate work to others at a lower rate?, the letter states a range using the Lowest rate for others at your firm ($) and Highest rate for others at your firm ($).
How will you bill this engagement? offers the only two fee choices in the product.
| Billing monthly with no advance fee deposit | Monthly invoices, and no deposit paragraph in the letter |
| Billing monthly with an advance fee deposit held in trust and applied to invoices | Adds the Advance Fee Deposit paragraph, the Amount of the advance fee deposit ($) field, the trust account reference, and the refund terms |
The letter also explains that the client is responsible for:
Court filing fees
Publication costs
Delivery or research charges
Fees for third-party professionals, such as accountants or appraisers
If you take a deposit, the letter describes it as an advance payment toward fees and costs that have not yet been earned or incurred, held in the firm’s trust account, and withdrawn only after providing the client with an invoice. That reflects RPC 1.15A(h)(3), which permits a lawyer to withdraw earned fees only after giving the client reasonable notice through a billing statement or other document.
Where a probate deposit actually comes from
A deposit is collected before your client has authority over Estate funds, so it will usually come from them personally rather than from the Estate. The letter says so, and says that the firm will assist in seeking reimbursement from the Estate once the client is appointed. This is the one place where the Estate-pays-first rule described below cannot hold, and it is the most common practical question the clause raises.
Duration and Venue
Set a deadline after which this offer of representation expires? is optional and prints nothing unless you opt in. Answering yes adds the Accepting This Engagement paragraph and asks How many days does the client have to return the signed letter?
The paragraph states that the firm will not open a file and that no attorney-client relationship exists until the signed letter is returned, that the offer expires after the number of days you set, and that Washington law sets deadlines for steps in an estate administration, some of which run from the date of death.
Why the deadline sentence is in a probate letter
A probate matter is running on statutory time from the moment of death, in both testate and intestate estates. Delivery of an original Will, priority to be appointed, notice, and creditor claims all have their own clocks, and several of them do not wait for a client to sign anything. An unreturned engagement letter therefore sits differently here than it would in a planning matter, which is what the deadline sentence is there to tell the client.
In which county would any court action about this engagement be filed? sets the venue clause in the Standard Terms.
This is not the probate county
This is where a fee dispute would be filed, not where the probate is pending. They may differ. It is the only field on this tab where a wrong answer has legal consequence.
What the Letter Says
The letter opens by identifying the Personal Representative as your client and defining the Estate being administered. It also references the Standard Terms of Engagement, which are included with the template and are incorporated into the engagement letter by reference.
Important: The Standard Terms of Engagement included with the template are default provisions. You should review them carefully to ensure they align with your firm’s own policies and practices regarding billing, file retention, communications, and other engagement terms.
Representation of You as Fiduciary
This provision clarifies the nature of the attorney-client relationship in a probate matter. The template states that your firm represents the Personal Representative in their fiduciary role, not the Estate’s beneficiaries or other family members. While you may provide general information to beneficiaries about the administration process, the engagement letter makes clear that you do not represent them and do not provide them legal advice.
If the Personal Representative is also a beneficiary, the template includes optional language explaining that the client may effectively “wear two hats.” In that situation, the engagement letter emphasizes that your role is to advise the client in fulfilling their fiduciary duties as Personal Representative, even when those duties may differ from the client’s personal interests as a beneficiary.
Scope of Representation
This section describes the legal services your firm will provide as part of the probate representation and clarifies what work is outside the scope of the engagement. The template assumes that your firm is being retained to assist with the core legal work involved in administering the probate estate. By default, the scope typically includes services such as:
Preparing and filing documents to open probate
Advising the Personal Representative regarding fiduciary duties
Preparing and sending required notices
Assisting with creditor claim procedures
Preparing the estate inventory, including nonprobate assets
Advising on administration issues, after-death tax planning and disclaimers
Marshalling and distributing to beneficiaries
Preparing documents necessary to close the probate proceeding
The engagement letter also clarifies that certain tasks often associated with estate administration are not legal services and are not included by default, such as preparing Form 1041 for the Estate or Form 1040 for the Decedent, preparing fiduciary accountings, personal financial matters, and business management.
The template includes optional language that you may choose to add if your firm typically provides additional services as part of probate administration. Examples include:
Estate Tax Compliance
Preparing federal or state estate tax returns and responding to inquiries from taxing authorities.
Trust Administration
Advising on the administration of revocable or testamentary trusts following the Decedent’s death.
Real Estate or Business Interests
Handling transfers or sales of estate-owned real estate or advising on closely held business interests.
Tax and Financial Coordination
Working with accountants or financial advisors on fiduciary tax filings or tax elections.
Contested or Special Proceedings
Representing the Personal Representative in disputes, will contests, or petitions for court instructions.
Post-Death Planning Matters
Advising on disclaimers, spousal rights, family allowances, or other planning opportunities that arise during administration.
You may adjust this section depending on how broadly your firm defines the services it provides in probate matters.
Payment of Our Fees and Costs
This clause states one rule about who pays, and it is the clause most worth reading before you send the letter.
Payment of Our Fees and Costs. Our fees and costs are an expense of administering the Estate, and we will look to the Estate for payment. As Personal Representative, you are responsible for seeing that our invoices are paid from Estate funds once you have authority to use them. If the Estate does not pay them, because it has insufficient funds or because a court disallows all or part of them, you are personally responsible for paying them. If you do pay any of our fees or costs personally, including any advance fee deposit, we will assist you in seeking reimbursement from the Estate as an expense of administration.
In short: the Estate pays first, and the Personal Representative is personally liable as a backstop. That backstop is why the consent form is signed both individually and as Personal Representative.
Read the clause as written, not as a summary of it
The letter says the firm will look to the Estate for payment. It does not say the Estate is responsible for the fees, and the difference matters. An estate is not a person and cannot hold a contract, so the firm’s counterparty is the Personal Representative. The clause names a payment source, not an obligor.
Two Standard Terms were adjusted to match, and a reader comparing an older letter to a current one will notice both. Legal Fees no longer asserts personal liability up front; it now says the fees are payable from the estate or trust the client administers, and that the client is personally responsible only as described in the engagement letter. No Guaranteed Outcome now says that if a court disallows the fees, the Estate will not bear them and the client will be personally responsible for paying them.
Attorney-Client Privilege and Communications
This section explains that communications between you and the client are confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege. It also warns that privilege can be lost if communications are shared with third parties, such as family members or advisors. Clients are encouraged to be careful when copying others on emails or using shared or workplace email accounts.
The letter now carries two paragraphs about artificial intelligence, and neither is controlled by an interview answer.
Client-side, in Attorney-Client Privilege. Entering the firm’s communications or documents into a public chatbot may lose privilege, because the tool’s operator may store the material, have people review it, train on it, or be compelled to produce it. It closes by inviting the client to talk to the firm first.
Firm-side, in Communications and Technology. The list of third-party software the firm may use now includes artificial intelligence assisted drafting and summarizing tools, and transcription.
The Standard Terms also address common communication practices, including email and electronic communication, file-sharing platforms, and electronic signatures and remote tools.
Conclusion of Representation
This section explains when the engagement ends. Typically, the representation concludes once the probate is closed and the Personal Representative is discharged.
If an advance fee deposit was used, the letter addresses the return of any remaining balance, and clarifies that future legal work would require a separate engagement agreement.
Standard Terms of Engagement
The Standard Terms sit after your signature and are incorporated into the letter by reference. Each clause does a specific job.
| Legal Fees | Rates, what time is billable, and that an estimate is not a guaranteed maximum. Fees are payable from the estate or trust the client administers, and the client is personally responsible only as described in the engagement letter, including if a court does not approve them. |
| Monthly Statements | Payment due on receipt, and interest at 1% per month on balances unpaid after 30 days. |
| Communications and Technology | Email and electronic communication, file-sharing platforms, electronic signatures and remote tools, and the third-party software the firm may use, including AI-assisted drafting and summarizing tools and transcription. Previously headed Method of Communications. |
| Your Responsibilities | Complete and accurate information about Estate assets and liabilities, nonprobate assets, and the Decedent’s heirs and beneficiaries. Forward creditor claims and Estate mail promptly, review documents and flag errors, respond within a reasonable time, and keep contact details current. The firm relies on what the client provides and does not independently verify it. |
| No Guaranteed Outcome | No guaranteed outcome in the probate proceeding. If a court disallows the fees, the Estate will not bear them and the client will be personally responsible. |
| Termination of Services | The client’s right to terminate the representation, and the firm’s right to withdraw when permitted by the RPCs. Fees and costs incurred before termination remain payable. |
| Document Retention | Paperless file, an electronic copy at any time at no charge, a reasonable charge for paper copies, and no charge at all for copies of documents the client supplied or originals the firm prepared. Retention runs seven years from the end of the engagement, whether by conclusion, discharge, or withdrawal. See the note below on the original Will. |
| Venue | The county you selected on the Details and Billing tab. Previously this sat inside Monthly Statements and pointed at the firm’s principal place of business. |
These provisions help manage expectations and reduce disputes regarding billing, outcomes, and file access.
The original Will does not stay in your file
Document Retention states that where the firm has custody of the Decedent’s original Will, it will not be retained in the file. Washington law requires the original to be delivered to the court having jurisdiction, and the firm files it with the court as part of opening the probate.
RCW 11.20.010 runs two clocks. A person with custody of a Will has 30 days from learning of the testator’s death to deliver it to the court or to the person named as executor. A person acting as executor has 40 days to deliver it to the court. Wilful violation creates liability to any aggrieved party for damages.
Terms the Template Sets for You
The interview asks for the rates, the deposit amount, the venue county and the deadline. Everything below is fixed in the template text. If your firm wants a different answer, you have to edit the assembled Word document, every time. Values are as at August 2026.
| Who pays first | The Estate, with the Personal Representative personally responsible as a backstop |
| Billing frequency | Monthly |
| When payment is due | On receipt |
| Interest on overdue accounts | 1% per month after 30 days. That is 12% a year, at the floor of the maximum permitted by RCW 19.52.020, so it is safe in Washington. It is hardcoded, not configurable |
| Advance fee deposit | Held in the client trust account and withdrawn only after an invoice has been provided |
| Return of an unused deposit | The letter states an outer limit of 30 days from the conclusion of the engagement or the date the final invoice is paid, whichever is later. RPC 1.15A(f) requires prompt delivery of funds the client is entitled to, so treat the 30 days as a stated maximum rather than a target |
| The file, electronic | An electronic copy at any time, at no charge |
| The file, paper | A reasonable charge for copying, except for documents the client supplied or originals the firm prepared, which are free |
| File retention | Seven years from the end of the engagement |
| Excluded from scope | Form 1041 for the Estate and Form 1040 for the Decedent, fiduciary accounting, personal financial matters, and business management. Stated regardless of how you answer the estate tax return question |
Client Signature Required
Clients are asked to sign the engagement letter to confirm that they:
Understand the scope of representation
Agree to the firm’s billing practices
Acknowledge that the Personal Representative is the client
The consent form is signed both individually and as Personal Representative. That dual capacity is what the Payment of Our Fees and Costs clause depends on. A signed engagement letter documents informed consent and helps demonstrate compliance with professional responsibility requirements.
Related Articles
Resources for Engagement Letters
Below are various free resources that are available related to trusts and estates engagement letters, some of which are Washington-focused.
Engagement Letter Examples
Washington Ethics Rules
RPC 1.15A, Safeguarding Property, including (f) on prompt delivery and (h)(3) on notice before withdrawing earned fees
WSBA Advisory Opinion 202401 (2024), on what documents RPC 1.16(d) requires a lawyer to surrender on termination
Washington Statutes Referred to Above
RCW 11.20.010, duty of a person having custody of a Will
RCW 19.52.020, maximum rate of interest