[WSBAPT] RCW 11.78 issues

[Marcus Fry]

Brent:
Thank you.  Yes, I am just wondering what people have encountered with the new law in this type of situation.  It seems unfair where we can use TEDRA to rework Wills and distribution schemes, but beneficiaries cannot all agree that a person not on the 11.28.120 list can serve without bond and without court intervention?  Just another classic example of legislation using a nuclear bomb to kill an ant.

-Marcus

From: Brent Williams-Ruth <brent at williams-ruthlaw.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2026 10:05 AM
To: Marcus Fry <MFry at hawleytroxell.com>
Cc: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: RCW 11.78 issues

* NOTICE: EXTERNAL EMAIL *
________________________________
Greetings Marcus -

This is an outcome of the new Probate for Profit bill that passed.  Under the new law, the statute limits the ability to bring a non-family member up from the "any suitable person" category to ONLY the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner.

It will be very interesting to see how this is applied in various counties.

Now that the state website has been updated, you can see how under (1)(a) it clearly states that only the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner may request to have someone else appointed in their shoes. https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=11.28.120<https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=11.28.120>

Under the prior law, there were no express prohibitions.  That is not the case now.  The "Sub 3" - any suitable person, are now expressly forbidden from being granted NIP and no bond. I beleive the Courts are going to be less inclined to allow for the consent by heirs to change this.

Good luck!

Brent


Brent Williams-Ruth (pronouns: he/him)
Attorney-At-Law

Law Offices of Brent Williams-Ruth, a division of BWR Consulting, PLLC

Physical Address: 500 S 336th Street, Suite 214; Federal Way, WA 98003

Mailing Address: PO BOX 3319; Federal Way, WA 98063

Office/Scheduling Phone: (253) 285-7751

For All Meetings & Scheduling: info at williams-ruthlaw.com<mailto:info at williams-ruthlaw.com>

e-mail<mailto:Brent at Williams-RuthLaw.com> / website<http://www.williams-ruthlaw.com/> / facebook<http://www.facebook.com/bwrlaw> /


On Thu, Jul 23, 2026 at 9:55 AM Marcus Fry <MFry at hawleytroxell.com<mailto:MFry at hawleytroxell.com>> wrote:
Anyone encounter resistance from courts in granting nonintervention powers and waiving bond by the agreement of all the beneficiaries of an intestate estate when the PR is not on the list of approved family members of the deceased to serve.  Think of people like an ex-spouse or step-children serving as PR for an intestate estate by agreement of all of the beneficiaries.
Thank you,



Marcus
Hawley Troxell
Yakima, WA.
509.248.7220





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20260723/8eea4af1/attachment.html>