WA-Probate > Probate Instructions > Opening the Estate > Decedent's Will Has Already Been Filed

Washington Probate Instructions

If Decedent's Will Has Already Been Filed as a "Will Only"

If Decedent's Will has already been filed, then the Clerk's Office will have already opened a file for Decedent and issued a case number for the file.  As it happens, however, the file will be classified internally within the Clerk's Office as a Will Only file and not as a Decedent's Estate file, although, at least for King County, this is a difference without a distinction.

To file a later Petition for Probate:

• File the Petition under the same case number as was issued for Decedent's Will.
   

• Pay the $110 filing fee (sacrificing the $20 filing fee that was paid for the prior filing of the Will).
   

• In King County, file a new King County Case Assignment Designation & Case Information Cover Sheet.

The Clerk's Office will reassign the file from a Will Only file to a Decedent's Estate file without any further action necessary.

Caution: In King County, if the Will has already been filed, then any Petition for Probate may be heard only in the proper venue of the Will, ie:

• If the Will when filed was designated as a Seattle case, then the Petition for Probate may be heard only at the Courthouse, downtown.
   

• If the Will when filed was designated as a Kent case, then the Petition for Probate may be heard only at the Regional Justice Center, in Kent.