To make a valid will in Washington, put it in writing, sign it while two competent witnesses watch, and have those witnesses sign in your presence and at your request. You must be at least 18 and of sound mind. Those are the core Washington will requirements, and missing any one of them can void the entire document and push your estate into intestacy, where a statutory formula decides who gets what.
The Core Requirements
Washington law sets four conditions for a valid will. The document must be in writing. It must be signed by the testator, or by another person at the testator’s direction and in the testator’s presence. Two or more competent witnesses must sign the will while in the testator’s presence and at the testator’s request. And the testator must be at least 18 and of sound mind.1Washington State Legislature. RCW 11.12.020 – Requisites of Wills, Foreign Wills, Electronic Wills
Sound mind means you understand what property you own and who would naturally inherit from you. It is a low bar in most cases, but it becomes the central issue in contests involving elderly or ill testators.
The witnessing step matters more than people expect. Witnesses do not need to read the will, but they do need to see the testator sign (or hear the testator acknowledge the signature) and then sign themselves in the testator’s presence. Skipping that sequence is one of the most common reasons homemade wills fail.
Choosing Your Witnesses
Anyone competent to testify can serve as a witness, including a person who inherits under the will. Naming a beneficiary as a witness is legal but risky. If fewer than two other disinterested witnesses also signed, Washington law presumes the beneficiary-witness obtained their gift through fraud or undue influence. Unless that presumption is overcome, the witness’s share is cut back to whatever they would have received under intestacy.2Washington State Legislature. RCW 11.12.160 – Interested Witness, Effect on Will
The safe practice is straightforward: pick two witnesses who take nothing under the will.
What Washington Does Not Accept
Washington does not recognize holographic wills. A will handwritten by the testator but not witnessed has no effect, no matter how clearly it expresses intent.
Oral wills are valid only in narrow circumstances. A member of the armed forces or merchant marine can make one for wages or personal property. Any competent person can make an oral will during a last illness to dispose of personal property worth up to $1,000. Even then, two people must witness it, the testator must ask someone present to bear witness, and the words must be reduced to writing and offered for probate within six months. Oral wills cannot transfer real estate.3Washington State Legislature. RCW 11.12.025 – Nuncupative Wills
For practical purposes, plan on a written, witnessed will. The exceptions are too narrow to rely on.
Electronic and Remote-Witnessed Wills
Washington treats electronic wills the same as paper wills. An electronic will is a readable electronic record signed by the testator with an electronic symbol, sound, or process intended to authenticate the document.4Washington State Legislature. Chapter 11.12 RCW Wills – Section: RCW 11.12.410 A typed name or digital mark counts as a signature.
Witnesses do not have to be in the same room as the testator. Washington’s general will statute allows witnesses to be in the testator’s “electronic presence,” meaning real-time audiovisual communication.1Washington State Legislature. RCW 11.12.020 – Requisites of Wills, Foreign Wills, Electronic Wills When testator and witnesses sign separate copies remotely, those copies are treated as one document.
Preservation is the practical concern. The electronic record must stay unaltered after signing, and a broken chain of custody or a corrupted file can make the original terms hard to prove. If you use an electronic will, arrange for a qualified custodian to hold it securely.
Making the Will Self-Proving
A self-proving will can be admitted to probate without tracking down the witnesses to testify. For an electronic will, that status is available at execution if the witnesses sign affidavits confirming the testator appeared to be at least 18, of sound mind, and under no undue influence, and if a qualified custodian maintains continuous custody afterward.5Washington State Legislature. Chapter 11.12 RCW Wills – Section: RCW 11.12.450 Building self-proving affidavits into the signing ceremony saves your personal representative real work later, especially if witnesses have moved or died by the time the will is offered for probate.
How Community Property Limits What You Can Give Away
Washington is a community property state, and this shapes what a will can actually accomplish. Property acquired during a marriage or registered domestic partnership is generally community property, and neither spouse can give away more than their own half through a will.6Washington State Legislature. RCW 26.16.030 – Community Property Defined, Management and Control A will that purports to leave all of a couple’s community assets to someone other than the surviving spouse is only effective as to the deceased spouse’s half.
Separate property is different. Anything owned before the marriage, or received during the marriage as a gift or inheritance, can be disposed of freely. The distinction matters when someone assumes their wealth is separate and drafts a will on that assumption. If the assets are actually community property, the will gives away things the testator legally cannot. When significant community assets are involved, spouses should coordinate their plans together.
Changing or Revoking a Will Later
A will is not final until death. You can revoke it in two ways.
The first is by making a new will or codicil (a formal amendment) that either expressly revokes the old one or is inconsistent with it. Where the two documents conflict, the newer provisions control to the extent of the inconsistency.7Washington State Legislature. RCW 11.12.040 – Revocation of Will, How Effected, Effect on Codicils
The second is physical destruction: burning, tearing, canceling, or obliterating the will with the intent to revoke it. You can do this yourself or direct someone else to do it in your presence, but if someone else performs the destruction, two witnesses must be able to testify to your direction and to the act.7Washington State Legislature. RCW 11.12.040 – Revocation of Will, How Effected, Effect on Codicils If a will was last known to be in your possession and cannot be found after death, courts generally presume you revoked it.
When Divorce Changes Your Will Automatically
Divorce or annulment automatically revokes any will provisions that benefit a former spouse or registered domestic partner. The law treats the former spouse as having died at the time of the dissolution, so gifts, powers, and appointments in their favor are void.8Washington State Legislature. Chapter 11.12 RCW Wills – Section: RCW 11.12.051 Remarrying the same person does not undo the revocation. If you divorce and want your new spouse (or the same person after remarriage) to inherit, write a new will.
Non-Probate Assets Your Will Does Not Control
A will only controls property that passes through probate. Life insurance proceeds, retirement accounts, payable-on-death bank accounts, and jointly held property go directly to the named beneficiary or surviving joint owner regardless of what the will says. When the will and a beneficiary designation conflict, the beneficiary designation almost always wins.
This is where careful estate plans quietly fail. Someone updates the will after a divorce but forgets to change the beneficiary on a 401(k) or life insurance policy, and the ex-spouse collects the account. Washington’s automatic revocation for former spouses applies to will provisions, not to beneficiary designations on financial accounts and insurance. Those forms have to be updated separately after any marriage, divorce, birth, or death in the family.
For inherited retirement accounts, federal rules add another layer. Most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit a traditional IRA or 401(k) must withdraw the entire balance within 10 years. A surviving spouse has more flexibility and can roll the account into their own IRA. Missed required minimum distributions carry a penalty of up to 25 percent of the amount that should have been withdrawn. If retirement accounts make up a meaningful part of your estate, the beneficiary forms and the will need to say the same thing.