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

[Brent Williams-Ruth]

Not to bang the drum - but this is why we need volunteers to be part of our
Section leadership. I looked to see who filed comments and there were
three.  One comment from the AGO with a requested revision to the new (12)
that was accepted and added to the rule; and two that make comment about
admissibility vs authenticity.

This is how change is happened. It is rarely done with much fanfare and the
bare minimum of compliance with notice provisions.

The RPPT Executive Committee will be meeting next week for our annual
retreat to start the new year (Bar Year runs October 1 - September 30) and
I will propose that we create a new committee that will be simply for
tracking rule changes.  If the EC accepts this, we will then be looking for
people to volunteer for those roles.

You may be tired of my posts about legislation - but at least you can count
on me to try and bring attention by as many people and not wait until after
the fact to discover something significant has changed.

Brent
Former WSBA Governor
Current RPPT EC Member
Author of the Currently 2nd highest clicked article about Probate for
Profit in the current issue of Bar News (only behind disciplinary notices).
https://wabarnews.org/2026/09/10/ending-probates-for-profit-a-cannon-to-kill-a-mosquito/
.

*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

e-mail <Brent at Williams-RuthLaw.com> / website
<http://www.williams-ruthlaw.com/> / facebook
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On Thu, Sep 17, 2026 at 9:52 AM Eric Nelsen <eric at sayrelawoffices.com>
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).
>
>
>
> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/1417+31st+Ave+South+%0D%0A+Seattle+WA+98144-3909?entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Eric
>
>
>
> Eric C. Nelsen
>
> Sayre Law Offices, PLLC
>
> 1417 31st Ave South
> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/1417+31st+Ave+South+%0D%0A+Seattle+WA+98144-3909?entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> Seattle WA 98144-3909
> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/1417+31st+Ave+South+%0D%0A+Seattle+WA+98144-3909?entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> 206-625-0092 <(206)%20625-0092>
>
> eric at sayrelawoffices.com
>
>
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