Washington personal representative compensation
The court determines compensation that is just and reasonable.
Sources reviewed August 7, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
In Washington, the personal representative (executor) is the person the court appoints, or the will nominates, to administer the estate. Washington compensation is governed by state statute and, where the statute permits, by the terms of the will or a court order, so the lawful Washington fee is whatever those authorities set — not a national rule of thumb.
The amount is not computable from estate value alone. This page therefore publishes no percentage result; it reports the reasonable-compensation standard the reviewed record supports instead.
Washington does not set one statutory percentage to multiply by the estate. Do not substitute a neighboring state's rate or an informal fee table. The amount depends on the services and accounting in the particular administration, and the will may affect the compensation analysis where the governing rule allows it.
The personal representative, when no compensation is provided in the will, when he or she renounces all claim to the compensation provided in the will, or when he or she administers an intestate estate, shall be allowed such compensation for his or her services as the court shall deem just and reasonable.
The court determines compensation that is just and reasonable.
Keep the estate accounting, time and task log, receipts, and any will or compensation agreement together. Before taking a fee, ask the Superior Court how compensation is presented for review in this estate and whether an order or account approval is required. This page cannot decide what a court will consider reasonable.
Washington did not adopt the Uniform Probate Code’s compensation section, and RCW 11.48.210 reads differently from the uniform text used in Arizona, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota and Massachusetts. The measure is what the court “shall deem just and reasonable” — framed as the court’s allowance rather than as the representative’s entitlement.
Two provisions in that section have practical consequences. First, “additional compensation may be allowed for his or her services as attorney and for other services not required of a personal representative.” A Washington representative who is also a lawyer, or who performs work outside the representative’s ordinary duties, can be allowed a second layer of compensation for it rather than having it absorbed into one fee.
Second, on timing: compensation “may be allowed at the final account; but at any time during administration a personal representative or his or her attorney may apply to the court for an allowance upon the compensation of the personal representative and upon attorney’s fees.” The default is payment at the end, with an express route to an allowance on account before then. In a long administration that difference decides whether the representative carries the cost of the work for its duration.
Because the statute allows rather than entitles, a Washington fee is not settled until the court approves it, and the accounting is where that happens.
Source: RCW 11.48.210, read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
Washington compensation map
A percentage is not a fee answer until its base is known. This Washington map identifies the compensation standard and the accounting figure it uses, while keeping court approval and extraordinary work outside an invented total.
| Question | Recorded Washington answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Successor affidavit | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | probate property within the rule's stated scope; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $100,000 | Establish community-property interest before treating the screen as decided. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 40 days after death; Washington keeps the creditor clocks separate: a creditor given actual notice is barred on the later of 30 days after that notice and four months after first publication; a creditor given no actual notice who is not reasonably ascertainable at four months after first publication; and a reasonably ascertainable creditor given no actual notice — or any creditor where no notice issues — at 24 months after death (RCW 11.40.020, 11.40.051). | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | $290 is the recorded statewide amount. | Ask the Superior Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | The court determines compensation that is just and reasonable. The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Compensation record
This is the registry view of the compensation rule, separate from the calculator result. It shows whether a rate schedule exists and what accounting base the schedule names. A blank band is not permission to borrow a percentage from another state.
Washington has no tier table this site can price from the accepted record. The controlling record is RCW 11.48.210; read its quoted standard and ask the court how the fee is presented for approval.
Because Washington does not publish a percentage table here, the useful output is a record of the work and the accounting figure the court can review. Keep the will or appointment order, the the estate accounting the rule names, a dated task log, receipts, and a separate list of extraordinary work. This worksheet does not predict what the Superior Court will approve.
The personal representative, when no compensation is provided in the will, when he or she renounces all claim to the compensation provided in the will, or when he or she administers an intestate estate, shall be allowed such compensation for his or her services as the court shall deem just and reasonable.
| Record to assemble | Why it matters to the Washington review |
|---|---|
| Will, appointment, or compensation agreement | Shows whether a document states a fee or leaves the amount to the reviewed standard. |
| Accounting base | Separates the estate accounting from the gross asset list. |
| Dated task and time record | Connects the requested amount to the administration work actually performed. |
| Receipts and extraordinary-work list | Keeps expenses and separately reviewable services out of an unexplained round number. |
Case-file context
A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Washington descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Washington provides a successor-affidavit route for qualifying personal property after a 40-day wait.
The decedent's entire estate subject to probate, less liens and encumbrances, must not exceed $100,000. The affidavit itself only collects personal property, so solely owned real property counts toward the limit but does not transfer under this procedure.
Formal probate costs $290 statewide: a $200 base fee plus $40 and $50 surcharges that the same section makes mandatory for probate filings.
$290 is the recorded statewide amount.
Washington keeps the creditor clocks separate: a creditor given actual notice is barred on the later of 30 days after that notice and four months after first publication; a creditor given no actual notice who is not reasonably ascertainable at four months after first publication; and a reasonably ascertainable creditor given no actual notice — or any creditor where no notice issues — at 24 months after death (RCW 11.40.020, 11.40.051).
Court-material note: Washington publishes no statewide pattern form for the RCW 11.62.010 successor affidavit. The affidavit content is set by the statute itself, and the superior court clerk in the county of filing states local requirements.
Arithmetic illustration
The recorded Washington ceiling is $100,000, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. Counted that way, $75,000 sits below the Washington figure and $125,000 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Washington counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Washington ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $75,000 | Below $100,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $125,000 | Above $100,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Official material
Washington publishes no statewide pattern form for the RCW 11.62.010 successor affidavit. The affidavit content is set by the statute itself, and the superior court clerk in the county of filing states local requirements.
Source trail
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
Reviewed source note: The personal representative, when no compensation is provided in the will, when he or she renounces all claim to the compensation provided in the will, or when he or she administers an intestate estate, shall be allowed such compensation for his or her services as the court shall deem just and reasonable.