Washington Revocable Living Trust Requirements

Washington imposes no general signature, witness, or notarization requirement for creating a revocable living trust. RCW 11.98.014 provides that a trust need not be evidenced by a trust instrument at all, although the creation and terms of an oral trust may be established only by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence. A trust is created under RCW 11.98.011 only if the trustor has capacity, indicates an intention to create the trust, the trust has a definite beneficiary or qualifies for a statutory exception, the trustee has duties to perform, and the same person is not both sole trustee and sole beneficiary. Revocability must be express: unless the trust’s terms expressly provide that it is revocable, the trustor may not revoke or amend it under RCW 11.103.030(1).

This page is a practitioner reference for attorneys and paralegals handling Washington matters. It summarizes statutory requirements — it is not legal advice and does not substitute for reading the current statute or consulting Washington counsel.

The governing statute

Washington trust creation and administration are governed principally by chapter 11.98 RCW, which RCW 11.98.920 titles the “Washington Trust Act.” Chapter 11.103 RCW separately supplies rules specific to revocable trusts, including the capacity standard, revocation and amendment methods, the trustor’s control while living, and the limitation period for a validity contest. Chapter 11.98 includes the creation requirements at RCW 11.98.011, trustee-notification rules at RCW 11.98.072, certification-of-trust provisions at RCW 11.98.075, and the duty of loyalty at RCW 11.98.078. Chapter 11.98 applies to express trusts within the scope stated in RCW 11.98.009.

Citation: Chapters 11.98 and 11.103 RCW; creation requirements at RCW 11.98.011; revocable-trust rules at RCW 11.103.020–.050 Official source: app.leg.wa.gov

Washington’s statutes use trustor rather than settlor or grantor, and RCW 11.98.930 applies spousal terms equally to state registered domestic partnerships.

Execution requirements

Two rows require careful qualification. RCW 11.98.014’s phrase “except as required by a statute other than this title” means that the absence of a trust-instrument writing requirement does not eliminate separate formalities governing particular assets. For example, RCW 64.04.010 requires conveyances of real estate or an interest in real estate to be made by deed. The anti-merger rule in RCW 11.98.011(1)(e) asks whether the same person is both the sole trustee and the sole beneficiary—not merely the sole current beneficiary. The existence of another beneficiary holding a present or future interest changes that analysis.

Revocability, amendment, and trustor control

• Capacity. RCW 11.103.020 provides that the capacity required to create, amend, revoke, or add property to a revocable trust—or to direct the trustee’s actions—is the same as the capacity required to make a will. RCW 11.12.010 permits a person of sound mind who has attained age 18 to make a will.
• Revocability. A Washington trust is not revocable by default. Under RCW 11.103.030(1), the trustor may not revoke or amend the trust unless its terms expressly provide that it is revocable.
• Revocation and amendment methods. A trustor may revoke or amend a revocable trust by substantially complying with a method stated in the trust. If the trust provides no method, or if its method is not expressly exclusive, the trustor may also use a later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust or specifically devises property that otherwise would pass under it, or a written instrument signed by the trustor that evidences an intent to revoke or amend. For a trust created or funded by more than one trustor, RCW 11.103.030(2) supplies separate default rules for community property and each trustor’s other contributions.
• Action through an agent. An agent under a power of attorney may exercise the trustor’s revocation, amendment, or distribution powers only to the extent specified in the power of attorney and to the extent consistent with or expressly authorized by the trust agreement. A conservator requires approval from the court supervising the conservatorship.
• Rights while the trustor is living. While a revocable trust’s trustor is living, beneficiary rights are subject to the trustor’s control and the trustee’s duties are owed exclusively to the trustor. If more than one trustor is living, those duties are owed to the living trustors who hold the right to revoke.
• Creditor claims. A revocable self-settled trust should not be described as protecting the trustor’s assets from the trustor’s creditors. RCW 19.36.020 provides that transfers made in trust for the use of the person making the transfer are void as against that person’s existing or subsequent creditors.

Funding, trustee powers, and the beneficiary-trustee limitation

RCW 11.98.008 permits a trust to be created when the owner of identifiable property declares that the owner holds that property as trustee. RCW 11.98.170 separately addresses a trust whose corpus consists of the trustee’s right to receive life-insurance or retirement-plan proceeds as designated beneficiary. RCW 11.98.070 also supplies statutory trustee powers, subject to the trust’s terms and other applicable law.

Under RCW 11.98.200, a trustee who is also a beneficiary—other than the trustor serving as trustee—generally cannot exercise trustee powers to make discretionary distributions to or for the trustee’s own benefit beyond health, education, maintenance, or support as described in IRC §§ 2041 and 2514; make certain discretionary allocations between principal and income; or make discretionary distributions to satisfy the trustee’s own legal obligation. RCW 11.98.210 further provides that, when a beneficiary-trustee holds a distribution power subject to the ascertainable standard, language purporting to confer “absolute,” “sole,” “complete,” “conclusive,” or similar discretion is disregarded and the power may be exercised only reasonably and in accordance with that standard.

Two carve-outs matter. The limitation expressly does not apply to “the trustor as a trustee,” so a trustor serving as trustee is outside that restriction. And it applies unless the trust’s terms “refer specifically to RCW 11.98.200 through 11.98.240 and provide expressly to the contrary” — a generic override clause is not enough; the instrument must cite the sections. RCW 11.98.240 governs how the sections reach instruments executed before and after July 25, 1993.

On beneficiary information, RCW 11.98.072(4) states that while the trustor of a revocable trust is living, no beneficiary other than the trustor is entitled to any information under that section. The sixty-day notice duty in RCW 11.98.072(2) applies only to irrevocable trusts created after December 31, 2011, and revocable trusts that became irrevocable after that date, and the trustor may waive or modify it (RCW 11.98.072(5)).

Trusts created or administered outside Washington

RCW 11.98.012 supplies a multi-jurisdictional rule for recognizing a trust created outside Washington. Under RCW 11.98.012, a trust not created by will is validly created if its creation complied with the law of the jurisdiction where the instrument was executed, or the law of the jurisdiction in which — at the time of creation, or for a revocable trust at the time it became irrevocable — the trustor was domiciled, had a residence, or was a national; the trustee was domiciled or had a place of business; or any trust property was located.

Situs is a separate question. RCW 11.98.005(1) makes Washington the situs where the instrument designates Washington as situs or designates Washington law and at least one connecting factor exists: a trustee resides or has a place of business here, more than an insignificant part of administration occurs here, the trustor resides here when situs is established, a qualified beneficiary resides here, or Washington real property is a trust asset. Where the instrument is silent, RCW 11.98.005(3) supplies defaults.

Washington also offers a registration procedure at RCW 11.98.005(2): the trustee files a statement with the superior court clerk where venue lies under RCW 11.96A.050 and mails notice to each qualified beneficiary within five days; if no objecting petition is filed within thirty days, the registration “will be deemed the equivalent of an order entered by the court declaring that the situs of the trust is Washington.” Transferring situs out runs through RCW 11.98.045, 11.98.051, or 11.98.055 — and a change of situs does not authorize a change of trustee (RCW 11.98.051(4)).

Frequently asked questions: Washington revocable living trust requirements

Related Washington documents

Attorneys assembling a full Washington plan pair this page with the Washington certificate of trust requirements, since RCW 11.98.075 is how a trustee deals with banks and title companies without handing over the instrument, and with the Washington durable power of attorney requirements — an agent’s authority to create, amend, revoke, or terminate an inter vivos trust must be expressly granted under RCW 11.125.240(1)(a). Where incapacity planning is the driver, the Washington advance health care directive requirements page covers the health care side.

Washington’s limited creation formalities do not eliminate the need to address revocability, amendment methods, trustee authority, successor administration, and asset funding in the instrument and drafting workflow. See how estate planning document drafting software can help firms apply those provisions consistently.