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

[Andrekita Silva]

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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