The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
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Terms Used In Washington Code 11.96A.030

  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Internal revenue code: means the United States internal revenue code of 1986, as amended or renumbered as of January 1, 2001. See Washington Code 11.02.005
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
  • Issue: means all the lineal descendants of an individual. See Washington Code 11.02.005
  • Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
  • Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
  • Marital deduction: The deduction(s) that can be taken in the determination of gift and estate tax liabilities because of the existence of a marriage or marital relationship.
  • person: may be construed to include the United States, this state, or any state or territory, or any public or private corporation or limited liability company, as well as an individual. See Washington Code 1.16.080
  • Personal representative: includes executor, administrator, special administrator, and conservator or limited conservator and special representative. See Washington Code 11.02.005
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Revocable trust: A trust agreement that can be canceled, rescinded, revoked, or repealed by the grantor (person who establishes the trust).
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Testate: To die leaving a will.
  • Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
  • Trustee: means an original, added, or successor trustee and includes the state, or any agency thereof, when it is acting as the trustee of a trust to which chapter 11. See Washington Code 11.02.005
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(1) “Citation” or “cite” and other similar terms, when required of a person interested in the estate or trust or a party to a petition, means to give notice as required under RCW 11.96A.100. “Citation” or “cite” and other similar terms, when required of the court, means to order, as authorized under RCW 11.96A.020 and 11.96A.060, and as authorized by law.
(2) “Matter” includes any issue, question, or dispute involving:
(a) The determination of any class of creditors, devisees, legatees, heirs, next of kin, or other persons interested in an estate, trust, nonprobate asset, or with respect to any other asset or property interest passing at death;
(b) The direction of a personal representative or trustee to do or to abstain from doing any act in a fiduciary capacity;
(c) The determination of any question arising in the administration of an estate or trust, or with respect to any nonprobate asset, or with respect to any other asset or property interest passing at death, that may include, without limitation, questions relating to: (i) The construction of wills, trusts, community property agreements, and other writings; (ii) a change of personal representative or trustee; (iii) a change of the situs of a trust; (iv) an accounting from a personal representative or trustee; (v) the determination of fees for a personal representative or trustee; or (vi) the powers and duties of a statutory trust director or directed trustee of a directed trust under chapter 11.98B RCW;
(d) The grant to a personal representative or trustee of any necessary or desirable power not otherwise granted in the governing instrument or given by law;
(e) An action or proceeding under chapter 11.84 RCW;
(f) The amendment, reformation, or conformation of a will or a trust instrument to comply with statutes and regulations of the United States internal revenue service in order to achieve qualification for deductions, elections, and other tax requirements, including the qualification of any gift thereunder for the benefit of a surviving spouse who is not a citizen of the United States for the estate tax marital deduction permitted by federal law, including the addition of mandatory governing instrument requirements for a qualified domestic trust under section 2056A of the internal revenue code, the qualification of any gift thereunder as a qualified conservation easement as permitted by federal law, or the qualification of any gift for the charitable estate tax deduction permitted by federal law, including the addition of mandatory governing instrument requirements for a charitable remainder trust;
(g) With respect to any nonprobate asset, or with respect to any other asset or property interest passing at death, including joint tenancy property, property subject to a community property agreement, or assets subject to a pay on death or transfer on death designation:
(i) The ascertaining of any class of creditors or others for purposes of chapter 11.18 or 11.42 RCW;
(ii) The ordering of a qualified person, the notice agent, or resident agent, as those terms are defined in chapter 11.42 RCW, or any combination of them, to do or abstain from doing any particular act with respect to a nonprobate asset;
(iii) The ordering of a custodian of any of the decedent‘s records relating to a nonprobate asset to do or abstain from doing any particular act with respect to those records;
(iv) The determination of any question arising in the administration under chapter 11.18 or 11.42 RCW of a nonprobate asset;
(v) The determination of any questions relating to the abatement, rights of creditors, or other matter relating to the administration, settlement, or final disposition of a nonprobate asset under this title;
(vi) The resolution of any matter referencing this chapter, including a determination of any questions relating to the ownership or distribution of an individual retirement account on the death of the spouse of the account holder as contemplated by RCW 6.15.020(6);
(vii) The resolution of any other matter that could affect the nonprobate asset;
(h) With respect to any custodianship under a uniform transfers to minors act, the determination of any issues subject to court determination under chapter 11.114 RCW; and
(i) The reformation of a will or trust to correct a mistake under RCW 11.96A.125.
(3) “Nonprobate assets” has the meaning given in RCW 11.02.005.
(4) “Notice agent” has the meanings given in RCW 11.42.010.
(5) “Party” or “parties” means any person who has a legal or equitable interest in, or who holds a power or a claim with respect to, the subject of a matter. Each of the terms “party” or “parties” must be construed liberally in its context to fulfill the purposes of the procedural rules contained in this chapter as supplemented by the court rules and to promote justice, without creating new substantive rights that do not otherwise exist under the laws of this state or principles of equity, and may include without limitation the following:
(a) With respect to any property held subject to a revocable trust:
(i) Each trustee of the property subject to the trust; and
(ii) Each trustor who transferred the property;
(b) With respect to any property held subject to an irrevocable trust:
(i) Each trustee of the trust holding the property;
(ii) Each qualified beneficiary, as defined in RCW 11.98.002, of the property subject to the trust and any other beneficiary whose interest is protected under the constitutional principles of due process; and
(iii) Each holder of a power relating to the property;
(c) With respect to any testate property:
(i) Each personal representative appointed to execute the will governing that property;
(ii) Each devisee or legatee of that testate property;
(iii) Each holder of a power relating to the testate property following the testator‘s death; and
(iv) Each creditor whose claim has been established by allowance or judgment;
(d) With respect to any intestate property:
(i) Each personal representative appointed to administer that property;
(ii) Each heir of the decedent who owned that property;
(iii) Each holder of a power relating to the intestate property following the owner’s death; and
(iv) Each creditor whose claim has been established by allowance or judgment;
(e) With respect to any nonprobate asset, or with respect to any other asset or property interest passing at death, including joint tenancy property, property subject to a community property agreement, or assets subject to a pay on death or transfer on death designation:
(i) Each custodian of the property;
(ii) Each transferee and beneficiary of the property; and
(iii) Each qualified person, the notice agent, or resident agent, as those terms are defined in chapter 11.42 RCW;
(f) With respect to any custodial property subject to a uniform transfers to minors act:
(i) Each custodian of the custodial property;
(ii) The minor, as defined in RCW 11.114.010, for whose benefit the custodian holds the custodial property; and
(iii) Each other person who holds a power under chapter 11.114 RCW to act on behalf of the minor;
(g) With respect to any community property, each spouse;
(h) With respect to a matter relating to the powers and duties of a trust director or a directed trustee, or both:
(i) Each trust director with an interest in the matter;
(ii) Each directed trustee;
(iii) Each beneficiary, holder of a power, or other person whose interest or power is affected by the matter and is protected under the constitutional principles of due process;
(i) Each creditor whose claim has been allowed but has not been paid;
(j) The attorney general to the extent that the attorney general is a necessary and proper party under RCW 11.110.120 and corresponding common law;
(k) Each person who claims a legal right, title, or interest in property being subjected to probate or trust administration, nonprobate assets, other property passing at death, or custodial property, including without limitation the resolution of rights and duties under RCW 11.18.200 and questions relating to legal ownership or abatement; and
(l) When necessary, a party’s representative or representatives, which may include without limitation guardians; custodians; guardians ad litem; special representatives; virtual representatives; attorneys in fact; fiduciaries; and notice agents, resident agents, and qualified persons, as those terms are defined in chapter 11.42 RCW.
(6) “Persons interested in the estate, trust, nonprobate asset, other property passing at death, or custodial property” means all persons legally or beneficially interested in the estate, trust, nonprobate asset, other property passing at death, or custodial property; all persons holding powers with respect to the trust, estate, nonprobate asset, other property passing at death, or custodial property; the attorney general in the case of any charitable trust where the attorney general would be a necessary party to judicial proceedings concerning the trust; all fiduciaries of the estate, trust, nonprobate asset, or other property passing at death; and all custodians of custodial property.
(7) “Trustee” means any acting and qualified trustee of the trust.
(8) “Virtual representative” and other similar terms refer to a person who virtually represents another under RCW 11.96A.120 or other applicable law.

NOTES:

Application—Effective date—2011 c 327: See notes following RCW 11.103.020.
Part headings not law—Severability—2008 c 6: See RCW 26.60.900 and 26.60.901.
Clarification of laws—Enforceability of act—Severability—2006 c 360: See notes following RCW 11.108.070.
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