Washington · statute · Wash. Rev. Code ch. 11.12 · 35 active provisions
Any person of sound mind who has attained the age of eighteen years may, by last will, devise all his or her estate, both real and personal.All wills executed subsequent to September 16, 1940, and which meet the requirements of this section are hereby validated and shall have all the force and effect of wills executed…
(1) Except as provided in RCW 11.12.400 through 11.12.491, every will shall be in writing signed by the testator or by some other person under the testator's direction in the testator's presence or electronic presence, and shall be attested by two or more competent witnesses, by subscribing their names to the will, or…
Nothing contained in this chapter shall prevent any member of the armed forces of the United States or person employed on a vessel of the United States merchant marine from disposing of his wages or personal property, or prevent any person competent to make a will from disposing of his or her personal property of the v…
Every person who shall sign the testator's or testatrix's name to any will by his or her direction shall subscribe his or her own name to such will and state that he or she subscribed the testator's name at his or her request: PROVIDED, That such signing and statement shall not be required if the testator shall evidenc…
(1) A will, or any part thereof, can be revoked:(a) By a subsequent will that revokes, or partially revokes, the prior will expressly or by inconsistency; or(b) By being burnt, torn, canceled, obliterated, destroyed, or a physical act, with the intent and for the purpose of revoking the same, by the testator or by anot…
(1) If, after making a will, the testator's marriage or domestic partnership is dissolved, invalidated, or terminated, all provisions in the will in favor of or granting any interest or power to the testator's former spouse or former domestic partner are revoked, unless the will expressly provides otherwise. Provisions…
A bond, covenant, or agreement made for a valuable consideration by a testator to convey any property, devised or bequeathed in any last will previously made, shall not be deemed a revocation of such previous devise or bequest, but such property shall pass by the devise or bequest, subject to the same remedies on such…
When any real or personal property subject to a mortgage is specifically devised, the devisee shall take such property so devised subject to such mortgage unless the will provides that such mortgage be otherwise paid. The term "mortgage" as used in this section shall not include a pledge of personal property.A charge o…
(1) If, after making any will, the testator shall execute a later will that wholly revokes the former will, the destruction, cancellation, or revocation of the later will shall not revive the former will, unless it was the testator's intention to revive it.(2) Revocation of a codicil shall revive a prior will or part o…
(1) If a will fails to name or provide for a child of the decedent who is born or adopted by the decedent after the will's execution and who survives the decedent, referred to in this section as an "omitted child," the child must receive a portion of the decedent's estate as provided in subsection (3) of this section,…
(1) If a will fails to name or provide for a spouse or domestic partner of the decedent whom the decedent marries or enters into a domestic partnership after the will's execution and who survives the decedent, referred to in this section as an "omitted spouse" or "omitted domestic partner," the spouse or domestic partn…
Unless otherwise provided, when any property shall be given or any appointee appointed under a will, or under a trust of which the decedent is a grantor and which by its terms becomes irrevocable upon or before the grantor's death, to any issue of a grandparent of the decedent and that issue dies before the decedent, o…
(1) If a will makes a gift to a person on the condition that the person survive the testator and the person does not survive the testator, then, unless otherwise provided, the gift lapses and falls into the residue of the estate to be distributed under the residuary clause of the will, if any, but otherwise according t…
(1) An interested witness to a will is one who would receive a gift under the will.(2) A will or any of its provisions is not invalid because it is signed by an interested witness. Unless there are at least two other subscribing witnesses to the will who are not interested witnesses, the fact that the will makes a gift…
Every devise of land in any will shall be construed to convey all the estate of the devisor therein which he or she could lawfully devise, unless it shall clearly appear by the will that he or she intended to convey a less estate.
The Rule in Shelley's Case is abolished as a rule of law and as a rule of construction. If an applicable statute or a governing instrument calls for a future distribution to or creates a future interest in a designated individual's "heirs," "heirs at law," "next of kin," "relatives," or "family," or language of similar…
The Doctrine of Worthier Title is abolished as a rule of law and as a rule of construction. However, the Doctrine of Worthier Title is preserved as a rule of construction if:(1) A grantor has established in inter vivos trust of real property;(2) The grantor has expressly reserved a reversion to himself or herself; and(…
Any estate, right or interest in property acquired by the testator after the making of his or her will may pass thereby and in like manner as if title thereto was vested in him or her at the time of making the will, unless the contrary manifestly appears by the will to have been the intention of the testator.
No interest shall be allowed or calculated on any devise contained in any will unless such will expressly provides for such interest.
All courts and others concerned in the execution of last wills shall have due regard to the direction of the will, and the true intent and meaning of the testator, in all matters brought before them.
A gift may be made by a will to a trustee of a trust executed by any trustor or testator (including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, although the trustor has reserved any or all rights of ownership of the insurance contracts) if (1) the trust is identified in the testator's will and (2) its terms are evidence…
A will may incorporate by reference any writing in existence when the will is executed if the will itself manifests the testator's intent to incorporate the writing and describes the writing sufficiently to permit its identification. In the case of any inconsistency between the writing and the will, the will controls.
(1) A will or a trust of which the decedent is a grantor and which by its terms becomes irrevocable upon or before the grantor's death may refer to a writing that directs disposition of tangible personal property not otherwise specifically disposed of by the will or trust other than property used primarily in trade or…
Any person who has custody or control of any original will and who has not received knowledge of the death of the testator may deliver the will for filing under seal to any court having jurisdiction. The testator may withdraw the original will so filed upon proper identification. Any other person, including an attorney…
RCW 11.12.410 through 11.12.491 may be known and cited as the uniform electronic wills act.