[WSBAPT] ER 904 amendment eff. September 1, 2026

[Andrekita Silva]

Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

September 24, 2026

Thank you Eric.

I think that's what I'll do.

Andrekita Silva
Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 940
Seattle, Washington 98101-2509
206-224-8288
ak at seattle-silvalaw.com

On 2026/09/18 09:20 AM, Eric Nelsen wrote:

> I remember being surprised some years ago when a lawyer served me an
> ER 904 notice and documents about 4 months before trial. He pointed
> out that 30 days is a minimum notice, not maximum. True enough! So I
> think I would argue that your earlier ER 904 was already effective,
> and if no objection was filed within 14 days then the documents are
> already deemed admissible regardless of the later rule change.
> 
> Or that'd be my argument to the judge anyway...
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Eric
> 
> Eric C. Nelsen
> 
> Sayre Law Offices, PLLC
> 
> 1417 31st Ave South
> 
> Seattle WA 98144-3909
> 
> 206-625-0092
> 
> eric at sayrelawoffices.com
> 
> From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com
> <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Andrekita Silva
> Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2026 8:18 PM
> To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
> Cc: WSBA Real Property Listserv (wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com)
> <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com>
> Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] ER 904 amendment eff. September 1, 2026
> 
> Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
> ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> September 17, 2026
> 
> Eric,
> 
> Thanks so much for bringing this to our attention. This is a huge
> bummer. I have a parenting plan trial in Snohomish County that was
> supposed to go out in April, but was continued to August 10 so that
> GAL could conduct a final report.
> 
> On August 10, we were inexplicably continued to December 14.  I was
> already wondering if my prior ER 904 submittal (submitted for April)
> could simply be updated.  So much time has gone by, we now have more
> police reports. Although our prior ER 904 submittal had important text
> messages, it also included various police reports dealing with
> domestic violence. We got some through a Public Disclosure request and
> others by subpoena.  Police reports would not be hearsay under 803(6).
> 
> But, it looks like now we must go have law enforcement certify the
> records?
> 
> I'm wondering if documents submitted under prior ER 904 prior to 9/1
> (and even prior to 30 days before that) would be admissible or if they
> would fall under the new rule?
> 
> Andrekita Silva
> Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
> 1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 940
> Seattle, Washington 98101-2509
> 206-224-8288
> ak at seattle-silvalaw.com
> 
> On 2026/09/17 09:51 AM, Eric Nelsen wrote:
> 
>> I just started a trial prep for a trial next month and looked at ER
>> 904--discovered it was just amended, effective September 1. The old
>> catch-all provision of ER 904(6) is gone, and now every document has
>> to fit one of the now-twelve enumerated categories.
>> 
>> Looks like the statewide judges' association lobbied to get sub (6)
>> eliminated because it was--in their view--being abused by lawyers
>> designating hundreds of documents under sub (6), and it generated so
>> many objections it caused more time and work for the court than it
>> was
>> intended to save.
>> 
>> I am bummed. It was nice to be able to get copies of emails and the
>> like easily admitted by that process. The scope of the twelve
>> categories is quite a bit more limited than what was possible under
>> the old sub (6).
>> 
>> Sincerely,
>> 
>> Eric
>> 
>> Eric C. Nelsen
>> 
>> Sayre Law Offices, PLLC
>> 
>> 1417 31st Ave South
>> 
>> Seattle WA 98144-3909
>> 
>> 206-625-0092
>> 
>> eric at sayrelawoffices.com
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