Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington

Re: What needs to be done if anything when a souse leaves everything to the surv

The threshold issue is the size of the estate and the type(s) of property owned at death. If the estate is small and there is no real propery, a quick "summary" probate procedure can be used to effect the wishes of the person. If there is real property, and no community property agreement, then a formal probate procedure may be necessary.

While the surviving spouse may be able to continue to use the property and assets without doing anything, there may be problems with the title to assets when those assets need to be disposed of or otherwise dealt with. Using the proper procedure now can avoid those problems.

Re: What needs to be done if anything when a souse leaves everything to the surv

The will needs to be filed with the Superior Court clerk in their county of residence. Other than that, probably not (no need for probate). But note that I stated "probably." There may be issues that would make probate beneficial (e.g., estate tax issues, real property issues). A key question is whether the two executed a community property agreement and whether they owned real property. A properly recorded affidavit MAY be sufficient to satisfy the latter.

You should probably sit down with an attorney for a review of the estate. Most attorneys wouldn't charge you that much for such a meeting and it would give you (or the surviving spouse and heirs) piece of mind that everything is in proper order.

Bruce R. Busch