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Wahkiakum County, WA Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Current rules |
|---|---|
| Court | The Superior Court in Wahkiakum County. There is no separate probate court in Washington; the superior court is the general trial court and handles probate as a case type under RCW Title 11. One elected superior court judge serves Pacific and Wahkiakum counties jointly (RCW 2.08.065), and the two counties share one adopted set of local court rules, effective September 1, 2025, cited on this page as LGR, LAR, and LPGCR. Some matters may be presented to a judge pro tem or a court commissioner when the judge is unavailable (LGR 1(G)) |
| Filing office | The Wahkiakum County Clerk, the Clerk of the Superior Court. This is the office that takes the petition, lodges the will, issues letters, and keeps the county's estate records; the county's own page describes the County Clerk as an elected position holding the constitutional title of ex officio clerk of the court, and says the office issues letters testamentary and keeps the permanent records of the county's probates and guardianships. A shared judge changes nothing about where you file: filing stays with the Wahkiakum County Clerk |
| Courthouse | Wahkiakum County Courthouse, 64 Main Street, Cathlamet, WA 98612. One clerk counter serves the entire county. Two other courts share the address or the county's name and neither handles probate: Wahkiakum County District Court is at the same 64 Main Street with its own PO Box, and the county's Juvenile Court operates from 300 Memorial Avenue in South Bend, in Pacific County |
| Mailing address | PO Box 157, Cathlamet, WA 98612, the County Clerk's box, which is where probate filings and clerk correspondence go. Watch the box number: the courts.wa.gov court directory prints the clerk's box with a plus-four that does not match it, and the district court in the same building, Wahkiakum County District Court, uses PO Box 144, so address probate mail to the County Clerk at PO Box 157. Ex parte packets sent by mail are addressed to the Wahkiakum Clerk's Office, marked for ex parte, at PO Box 157 |
| Phone | (360) 795-3558 for the Wahkiakum County Clerk, the office that takes filings, issues letters, handles records, and answers questions about a specific hearing date or time. (360) 875-9328 for Pacific and Wahkiakum Superior Court Administration, the office that schedules hearings, approves remote appearances, and schedules ex parte presentations to the judge in chambers; that office is in South Bend, in Pacific County |
| Fax | (360) 795-8813, the County Clerk's fax, per the courts.wa.gov court directory entry for Wahkiakum County. The directory lists no fax for the Superior Court itself, and the clerk's own pages publish none. The clerk states plainly that filings are not accepted by email, so use the counter, the mail, or eFileWA, and ask the office before faxing anything you intend as a filing |
| [email protected], the County Clerk's office mailbox, published on the clerk's own contact page. [email protected] takes electronic ex parte submissions, and the county's Appearance by Zoom Request form routes remote appearance requests to Court Administration at [email protected], the office that serves both counties. None of these is a filing channel: the clerk cannot accept a filing by email. The joint local rules print an older office mailbox on the co.wahkiakum.wa.us domain, so use the address on the clerk's current page | |
| Office hours | Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch, per the clerk's own page and its contact page. The same 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. window is the electronic filing day: documents received outside it, excluding court holidays, are treated as received and filed at the beginning of the next business day. One published exception: the court and the clerk are open 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on the last workday before Christmas Day (LGR 1(B)). This is a one-counter office with a small staff, so call (360) 795-3558 before making a trip to Cathlamet |
| Filing fee | $290 to open a probate, set by statute and the same in every county: a $200 filing fee plus a $40 surcharge and a $50 surcharge (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f), (5)(c), (6)). The Wahkiakum County Superior Court and Clerk's fee schedule, effective June 11, 2026, prints the same $290 for an estate probate filing and states that fees must be paid in advance (RCW 36.18.060) with no refunds, and that payment may be made in cash, cashier's check, money order, or law firm check. Fee waivers are available for filers who cannot afford the fee (GR 34). Confirm the current schedule with the Wahkiakum County Clerk |
| Local forms | Yes, but none of them is probate-specific. Wahkiakum County publishes its own Superior Court forms, including a Note for Motion Docket, a Notice Striking Hearing, an Appearance by Zoom Request, an Omnibus Hearing Checklist, a Request for ADA Accommodation, and the Ex Parte Cover Sheet that is required with every electronic ex parte submission. Washington publishes no statewide probate form set either (verified July 2026 on the courts.wa.gov Court Forms index, which has no probate category), so the petition, the order, the oath, and the notices are drafted documents. The joint local rules impose no cover-sheet rule of their own; the clerk's published requirement is that a document cover sheet is used if your pleadings do not comply with GR 14 |
| E-filing | Available, and unusual for a county this size. The Wahkiakum County Clerk accepts electronic filing through eFileWA, the Tyler Technologies Odyssey eFile and Serve system (https://www.co.wahkiakum.wa.us/659/E-Filing). There is no charge for using eFile and Serve itself; you pay the statutory filing fee plus an eCommerce transaction fee on each electronic payment. Some documents cannot be e-filed under GR 30, and the clerk does not accept filings by email. Orders are the exception that matters most in a probate: the clerk does not accept ex parte orders or orders for presentation through eFileWA, and a proposed order sent that way is filed in the court file rather than taken to the bench, so the appointment order goes through the clerk's separate ex parte route. Paper filing at the counter or by mail remains available |
| Case search | Two layers. Wahkiakum County is one of the counties covered by Odyssey Portal, the free public case search for Washington superior courts (https://odysseyportal.courts.wa.gov/odyportal). The statewide index at https://dw.courts.wa.gov/ also reaches superior court cases, but it carries its own notice that dockets, judgments, document links, and case status may be inaccurate and directs users to Odyssey Portal or the court of record. Separately, the Wahkiakum County Clerk runs a registered Odyssey Portal program for fuller access to publicly accessible county records, which its page says include probate and guardianship cases; registration takes a signed Master Registration Form and Subscription Agreement delivered to the Clerk with an annual fee and about a week to process. For copies of documents in an estate, use the clerk's records request process |
| Hearing dates | The judge does not hear Wahkiakum motions every week. Under LGR 1(A) of the joint Pacific and Wahkiakum local rules the court is in session on all judicial days from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., with session beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Motion Day in Wahkiakum County. Wahkiakum's motion days are scheduled on alternating Mondays and may change for holidays and vacation schedules; criminal matters are heard at 9:30 a.m. and all other matters, including a probate motion, at 10:30 a.m. unless the court orders otherwise (LGR 1(F)). The county's own Superior Court page describes the same pattern as a criminal docket twice monthly at 9:30 a.m. and civil motions twice monthly at 10:30 a.m., and the county publishes a 2026 Wahkiakum docket calendar marking the dates (https://www.co.wahkiakum.wa.us/DocumentCenter/View/3308/2026-Wahkiakum-Docket-Calendar), which warns that dates change to accommodate conferences and vacations. Many probate orders never need a motion date at all: ex parte matters may be filed with the Clerk's office with the ex parte fee, or presented to the judge in chambers if available, with Court Administration called in advance to schedule, and emergency matters may be presented at any time (LGR 1(G), LAR 3(A)) |
| Remote appearance | Approved in advance, not automatic. Under LGR 1(H) motions and hearings may be heard by remote conference with the court's approval, but only where there will be no testimony or significant oral argument. Submit the county's Appearance by Zoom Request form to Court Administration at [email protected] at least five business days before the hearing date, with the hearing details and the reason; Court Administration answers by email. If the request is approved, a nonrefundable $25 fee for the arrangements and the call cost is paid to the Clerk's Office before the hearing, per party and per hearing; the county's exceptions cover dependency matters, protection orders, unlawful detainer actions, and indigent parties, so a probate filer normally pays it. The county adds that hearings are in person unless approval is granted, that proceedings are no longer live-streamed, that only active case parties may request a Zoom appearance, that a request and payment do not carry over to a continued hearing, and that participants are screened, should check in about 10 minutes early, and may wait up to an hour in the virtual waiting room |
| Website | https://www.co.wahkiakum.wa.us/312/Superior-Court-Clerks-Office (the Wahkiakum County Superior Court Clerk's Office page, with hours, contacts, the fee schedule, the local court rules, the docket calendar, e-filing, ex parte procedure, and records requests) and https://www.courts.wa.gov/court_dir/orgs/294.html (the courts.wa.gov directory entry for Wahkiakum County) |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you file anything with the Wahkiakum County Clerk, know exactly what is in the estate. Which Washington route fits depends on whether there is a will, on who is entitled to be appointed, and on the value and type of the assets, because a full probate with letters testamentary or letters of administration, an unsupervised administration under nonintervention powers (RCW 11.68.011), and a small estate affidavit that opens no court case (RCW 11.62.010) are different routes with different filings. Those routes and their thresholds are statewide and are explained on the Washington state page. Identify the estate first so you, and if needed your attorney, file the right papers once: the county's own fee schedule says fees are paid in advance with no refunds, and a resubmitted ex parte packet takes a new $30 fee, so a filing that has to be redone costs money as well as time.
Identify every bank and credit union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life insurance policy, vehicle, and parcel of real property, along with every debt, before you file. How each asset is titled decides which route you need: the small estate affidavit reaches personal property only, while a house in Cathlamet, acreage on Puget Island, timber ground in the Elochoman or Grays River valleys, or a place along the Columbia generally requires a probate in the superior court so that a personal representative has authority to sign a deed. Knowing the debts matters too, because nonintervention powers are granted only if the court finds the estate solvent (RCW 11.68.011). Sunset's asset discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.
Which court handles jurisdiction
The Wahkiakum County Clerk, the Clerk of the Superior Court, is the single probate filing office for all of Wahkiakum County, at one counter in the Wahkiakum County Courthouse at 64 Main Street in Cathlamet. There is no second probate counter. The office serves the entire county, including Cathlamet, the county seat and the only incorporated town, and the unincorporated communities and river country around it, among them Puget Island, Skamokawa, Rosburg, Grays River, Deep River, Altoona, Pillar Rock, Eden Valley, and the Elochoman Valley, from the Cowlitz County line west to Pacific County and south to the Columbia River. Estates from every part of the county are filed here: in person at the counter, by mail to the County Clerk at PO Box 157, Cathlamet, WA 98612, or electronically through eFileWA. Two nearby courts are not probate counters: Wahkiakum County District Court sits in the same building at 64 Main Street but is a court of limited jurisdiction with its own PO Box, and the county's Juvenile Court operates from South Bend, in Pacific County.
One elected superior court judge serves Pacific and Wahkiakum counties jointly (RCW 2.08.065), and the two counties share one adopted set of local court rules, effective September 1, 2025, published by the Administrative Office of the Courts as the Local Court Rules of the Superior Court for Pacific and Wahkiakum Counties. That is an administrative fact about the bench, not about the counter: you do not file in South Bend. A Wahkiakum County estate is filed with the Wahkiakum County Clerk, keeps a Wahkiakum County case number, and stays in the Wahkiakum County records. What the shared judge changes is scheduling, and the joint rules set a different calendar for each county, so read the Wahkiakum rule rather than the Pacific one. The court is in session on all judicial days from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., with session beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Motion Day in Wahkiakum County (LGR 1(A)); Wahkiakum's motion days fall on alternating Mondays and may change for holidays and vacation schedules, with criminal matters at 9:30 a.m. and all other matters, a probate motion among them, at 10:30 a.m. unless the court orders otherwise (LGR 1(F)). The Friday motion day, the 11 a.m. special sets, and the ten-minute argument limit in the same rule set belong to Pacific County (LGR 1(E)) and do not govern a Wahkiakum hearing. Use the county's published docket calendar for the dates, and call the County Clerk at (360) 795-3558 about a specific hearing date or time, because the calendar itself warns that dates change.
Washington law lets the petitioner file a probate in the superior court of any county in the state (RCW 11.96A.050(4)), but in practice you file in the county where the decedent lived: an interested party can move venue there within four months of the notice of appointment, and if the probate is filed outside the county of residence the creditor notice must still be published in the county of residence (RCW 11.40.020(2)). So if the person who died lived in Wahkiakum County, file with the Wahkiakum County Clerk. The county's own fee schedule shows what the second half of that rule costs at the counter: filing a probate creditor notice here when the probate itself was opened in another county is a $20 filing (RCW 36.18.050, RCW 11.40.020(2)). One narrow exception is not optional: a petitioner who seeks appointment under RCW 11.28.120(3), the route for a person not otherwise entitled that opens only after 90 days, must file where the decedent resided, or, for a nonresident, in a county where estate property is. Once letters have been granted, the rest of the probate stays in that county (RCW 11.96A.050(5)).
The jurisdiction process
- Gather the documents. Collect the original signed will if there is one, a certified copy of the death certificate, the proposed personal representative's contact information and identification, the names, ages, and addresses of the heirs, legatees, and devisees, and a list of the assets and debts with values. Washington's term for the person who settles the estate is personal representative: a will-named personal representative is often called an executor and a court-appointed one an administrator, but the statutory term is the same for both. Wahkiakum has a local rule about the death certificate: the copy filed with the court must have the Social Security number redacted unless the court orders otherwise (LPGCR 1(A) of the joint Pacific and Wahkiakum local rules).
- Decide what you are asking the court for. With a will, the petition asks the court to admit the will to probate and issue letters testamentary, and the court may hear the proofs and enter an order establishing the will (RCW 11.20.020). The local probate rule makes the proof route explicit here: wills may be admitted and a personal representative appointed upon either oral testimony or appropriate affidavits (LPGCR 1(A)), so an uncontested estate is usually proved on paper rather than by live testimony. With no will, the application asks for letters of administration in the priority order set by RCW 11.28.120(1), and since June 11, 2026 the application must also set out the details of the applicant's reasonable search for the heirs (RCW 11.28.110, as amended by 2026 c 204). Most Washington personal representatives also ask for nonintervention powers, which let a solvent estate be administered and closed without further court supervision (RCW 11.68.011). These statewide routes are covered on the Washington state page.
- Prepare the papers. Washington has no statewide probate form set, so the petition, the order, the oath, and the notices are drafted documents rather than fill-in forms, and none of Wahkiakum County's own local forms is probate-specific. The joint local rules impose no cover-sheet rule, but two published requirements apply: the clerk requires a document cover sheet if your pleadings do not comply with GR 14, and every order you intend to have signed ex parte must itself comply with GR 14. If you plan to present the appointment order electronically, download the clerk's Ex Parte Cover Sheet now, because a submission without it is rejected. WashingtonLawHelp publishes the plain-language packets a self-represented filer can work from, including the small estate affidavit kit.
- File with the Wahkiakum County Clerk. You have three routes. Take the papers to the clerk's counter in the Wahkiakum County Courthouse, 64 Main Street in Cathlamet, open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed from noon to 1 p.m.; mail them to the County Clerk at PO Box 157, Cathlamet, WA 98612; or file electronically through eFileWA, the Tyler Technologies Odyssey eFile and Serve system the clerk uses. Electronic filing hours are the same 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. window, excluding court holidays, and anything received outside it is treated as filed at the beginning of the next business day. Some documents cannot be e-filed under GR 30, and the clerk cannot accept a filing sent by ordinary email. Call (360) 795-3558 before you mail original documents, including the original will, and ask then what the office wants on intake.
- Pay the filing fee. Opening a probate costs $290, set by statute and the same in every Washington county: a $200 filing fee plus a $40 surcharge and a $50 surcharge (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f), (5)(c), (6)). The county's own schedule, effective June 11, 2026, prints the same figure for an estate probate filing, requires fees to be paid in advance (RCW 36.18.060), issues no refunds, and lists cash, cashier's check, money order, and law firm check as the accepted forms of payment; the county also takes electronic payment through its online payment service. A filer who cannot afford the fee can ask the court to waive it under GR 34. The small estate affidavit route under RCW 11.62.010 opens no court case, so it carries no court filing fee.
- Present the appointment order. This is the step Wahkiakum handles differently from an ordinary filing, because the clerk does not accept ex parte orders or orders for presentation through eFileWA, and a proposed order sent through e-filing is placed in the court file rather than taken to the bench. Most probate orders are presented ex parte, and the clerk publishes two routes plus a third through chambers. By email, complete the Ex Parte Cover Sheet, which is required and without which the submission is rejected, and send the packet as one PDF attachment with the cover sheet first and the orders behind it, to [email protected] with Ex Parte in the subject line and the case number and party names in the message; PDF only, clear legible scans, no photographs of documents. By mail, send the original orders, any copies you want conformed, a self addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage, and a check or money order for $30 payable to the Wahkiakum Clerk's Office, addressed to the Wahkiakum Clerk's Office, marked for ex parte, at PO Box 157, Cathlamet, WA 98612. The presentation fee is $30 and covers up to five orders in one case at one time (RCW 36.18.016(12)); an electronic submission adds $0.50 per page for the court to print it, and a revised or resubmitted packet takes a new fee. An order may also be presented to the judge in chambers if the judge is available, with Court Administration called in advance at (360) 875-9328 to schedule, and emergency matters may be presented at any time (LGR 1(G)). Two warnings from the clerk's own page: payment only guarantees that the order will be presented, and the clerk does not review the case file, so everything the order relies on, including any affidavit of service, must already be filed. Every signed order is filed with the Clerk forthwith.
- Give the required notices. Within 20 days after appointment the personal representative or the estate's attorney must mail or personally serve written notice of the appointment and the pendency of the probate on each heir, legatee, and devisee, and on each known beneficiary or transferee of a nonprobate asset, and file proof of mailing with the Wahkiakum County Clerk (RCW 11.28.237(1)). If you give notice to creditors, the notice is filed with the court and published once each week for three successive weeks in a legal newspaper in the county where the estate is administered (RCW 11.40.020(1)). Wahkiakum County's weekly newspaper is the Wahkiakum County Eagle, now published as The Eagle, on Main Street in Cathlamet a short walk from the courthouse, and it runs a standing legals section. Confirm with the clerk and the paper before you count on a date, and confirm the cost, because first publication starts the four-month claim period (RCW 11.40.051).
- Get on a court date if your matter needs one. Anything set for argument goes on Wahkiakum's motion day, which falls on alternating Mondays and may move for holidays and vacation schedules; criminal matters are called at 9:30 a.m. and all other matters, a probate motion among them, at 10:30 a.m. unless the court orders otherwise (LGR 1(F)). Use the county's published docket calendar for the dates and call the County Clerk at (360) 795-3558 to confirm, because the calendar warns that dates change. Anything filed within two days of the hearing needs a bench copy showing the date and time of the proceeding, the judicial officer if known, and the cause number on the first page; eFileWA does not support bench copies, electronic bench copies sent to Court Administration must not exceed ten pages, and a longer one goes through the Clerk's Office at $0.50 per page (LAR 2(A)). To appear remotely, send the county's Appearance by Zoom Request form to Court Administration at [email protected] at least five business days ahead; approval is discretionary, is available only where there will be no testimony or significant oral argument, and carries a nonrefundable $25 fee per party paid to the Clerk before the hearing, which does not carry over to a continued hearing (LGR 1(H)).
- Receive the letters. On appointment the court issues letters testamentary where there is a will, or letters of administration where there is not, and the Wahkiakum County Clerk issues certified copies. A certified copy of the letters is what banks, transfer agents, and title companies rely on, so order enough for the institutions the estate deals with. The county's schedule charges $5 to issue letters of administration, letters testamentary, or letters of guardianship with the court seal and $5 for a certificate of qualification (RCW 36.18.016(9)), and $5 for the first page of a certified copy plus $1 for each additional page. Copies are requested through the county's records request portal, mail preparation is for United States addresses only, and confidential documents are not sent electronically.
- Administer and close. Inventory the assets, pay valid claims in the order set by law, handle the four-month creditor period (RCW 11.40.051), file any Washington estate tax return that is required (chapter 83.100 RCW), distribute what remains, and close the estate. A personal representative with nonintervention powers closes by declaration of completion rather than by a court accounting (RCW 11.68), while a supervised estate returns to the court for approval. If a dispute has to be resolved along the way, the joint local rules say where it goes: a petition under the Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act is filed within the existing probate case, not as a new case, and a separate filing fee may be charged (LPGCR 1(B)).
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Wahkiakum County
Wahkiakum County publishes its own Superior Court forms, but none of them is a probate form, and Washington publishes no statewide probate form set either. That is worth stating plainly, because filers arrive expecting a packet. The courts.wa.gov Court Forms index has categories for family law, guardianships and conservatorships, criminal, behavioral health, juvenile, financial, protection orders, and access to the courts, among others, and no probate category (verified July 2026). Washington probate pleadings, the petition, the order admitting the will, the oath, the notice of appointment, and the declaration of completion, are drafted by the filer or the attorney.
Two county documents do come into a probate. The Ex Parte Cover Sheet on the clerk's ex parte page is required with every electronic ex parte submission, and a submission without it is rejected, which matters because the appointment order is normally presented ex parte rather than at a hearing. The Appearance by Zoom Request form, which is also Attachment 1F to the joint Pacific and Wahkiakum local rules, is how you ask Court Administration for a remote hearing. The county's other local forms, the Note for Motion Docket, the Notice Striking Hearing, and the Request for ADA Accommodation, come into play only if a probate matter is set for argument or you need an accommodation. Unlike some Washington counties, the joint rules here impose no mandatory case cover sheet; what the clerk does publish is that a document cover sheet is required if your pleadings do not comply with GR 14, and that every order presented ex parte must comply with GR 14 as well. The GR 34 fee waiver forms are on the courts.wa.gov forms pages if you cannot afford the $290 filing fee (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f), (5)(c), (6)), and WashingtonLawHelp publishes the practical self-help packets, including the small estate affidavit kit for the no-court-case route under RCW 11.62.010. Ask the Wahkiakum County Clerk at (360) 795-3558 what the office wants on intake before you file, because a one-counter office can tell you in one call.
| Resource | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Wahkiakum County Superior Court Clerk's Office (co.wahkiakum.wa.us) | The filing office's own page: hours, contacts, the fee schedule, the local court rules, the 2026 docket calendar, and links to e-filing, ex parte procedure, records requests, and the county's Odyssey Portal program |
| Wahkiakum County Clerk ex parte procedure (co.wahkiakum.wa.us) | The two routes for getting a probate order signed, the Ex Parte Cover Sheet that is required with an emailed packet, the $30 presentation fee and the $0.50 per page printing charge, and the mailing address for an ex parte packet |
| Local court rules for Pacific and Wahkiakum counties (courts.wa.gov) | The current joint local rules, effective September 1, 2025, including the local probate rule on admitting a will by affidavit and redacting the death certificate (LPGCR 1(A)), the Wahkiakum alternating Monday motion days (LGR 1(F)), ex parte practice (LGR 1(G)), remote appearance and its $25 fee (LGR 1(H)), and bench copies (LAR 2(A)) |
| Washington Courts court forms (courts.wa.gov) | The statewide forms site and the GR 34 fee waiver forms. There is no probate category here, which is the point: Washington has no statewide probate forms |
| WashingtonLawHelp (washingtonlawhelp.org) | Plain-language Washington probate self-help, including the guide to managing a small estate yourself and the small estate affidavit packet (RCW 11.62.010) |
| Wahkiakum County Superior Court and Clerk's fee schedule, effective June 11, 2026 (co.wahkiakum.wa.us) | The county's own dated schedule: the $290 estate probate filing fee, the $5 letters and certificate of qualification lines, the $30 ex parte presentation, the $20 charges for a will filed after death and for the will repository, and the $20 creditor notice where the probate was filed in another county |
Fees
The $290 fee to open a probate is statutory and identical in every Washington county, and it is the only charge many estates here pay to the court. Wahkiakum County publishes its own dated schedule on top of it, the Wahkiakum County Superior Court and Clerk's Fee Schedule effective June 11, 2026, and three of its line items land squarely on a probate: presenting an order ex parte costs $30, an electronically submitted ex parte order adds $0.50 a page for the court to print it, and an approved remote appearance costs $25 per party under the joint local rules. Fees are paid in advance (RCW 36.18.060), the office issues no refunds, and the schedule lists cash, cashier's check, money order, and law firm check as the accepted forms of payment, so confirm the amount and the payment method with the Wahkiakum County Clerk at (360) 795-3558 before you send money.
| Item | Wahkiakum County charge |
|---|---|
| Opening a probate | $290, statutory and uniform statewide: $200 plus a $40 surcharge and a $50 surcharge (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f), (5)(c), (6)). The county's schedule prints the same figure for an estate probate filing. Fee waivers are available under GR 34 |
| Presenting an order ex parte | $30 for one presentation of up to five orders in the same case at one time (RCW 36.18.016(12)), plus $0.50 per page for the court to print an order submitted electronically. This is the charge a probate filer meets most often, because the appointment order is normally presented ex parte rather than at a hearing, and a revised or resubmitted packet requires a new fee |
| Approved remote appearance | $25, nonrefundable, per party and per hearing, for the arrangements and the call cost, payable to the Clerk's Office before the hearing when the court approves a remote appearance (LGR 1(H) of the joint Pacific and Wahkiakum local rules). A request and its fee do not carry over to a continued hearing. The county's stated exceptions cover dependency matters, protection orders, unlawful detainer actions, and indigent parties, so a probate filer normally pays it |
| Letters and certificates | $5 to issue letters of administration, letters testamentary, or letters of guardianship with the court seal, and $5 for a certificate of qualification (RCW 36.18.016(9)). Executing a certificate with or without a seal is a separate $2 line on the county's schedule. Name the item you want by function when you order it, because the schedule carries more than one line under the same statute |
| Copies of court records | $5 for the first page of a certified copy plus $1 for each additional page, and $0.50 per page for a non-certified copy, both updated effective June 11, 2026 per HB 2543. Documents must be purchased in their entirety, mailed documents carry postage plus a handling fee, mail preparation is for United States addresses only, and confidential documents are not sent electronically. An audio copy of a hearing is $25 per court date (RCW 36.18.016(13)) |
| Filing a will with no probate, or lodging one for safekeeping | $20 to file a will after death where no probate is contemplated (RCW 36.18.012(7)), and $20 for the will repository, for a will or codicil filed under seal before death (RCW 36.18.016(27)) |
| Creditor notice where the probate was filed elsewhere | $20 to file a probate creditor notice with the Wahkiakum County Clerk when the probate itself was opened in another county (RCW 36.18.050, RCW 11.40.020(2)). This is the counter-side cost of the rule that creditor notice is published in the county where the decedent lived even when the case was filed somewhere else |
| Estate dispute filings | $20 for a Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act nonjudicial binding agreement filed in an existing case (RCW 36.18.012(8)), or $290 if it is filed as a new case, and $290 for a TEDRA summons and petition (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f), (5)(c), (6)). A petition under that act belongs in the existing probate case (LPGCR 1(B)). A petition to admit a rejected will, to contest a will, or to object to a written agreement or memorandum is $290 |
| Records research and returned payments | $30 per hour to search records, compile statistical reports, or issue a written report (RCW 36.18.016(11)), $30 for a check returned for insufficient funds (county Resolution 11-029-CC), and $0.50 per page when an electronic bench copy runs past ten pages and has to go through the Clerk instead (LAR 2(A)) |
Recent updates
| Change | What it means for a Wahkiakum County estate |
|---|---|
| Wahkiakum County Superior Court and Clerk's fee schedule, effective June 11, 2026 | The clerk publishes a new dated schedule listing the $290 estate probate filing fee (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f), (5)(c), (6)), the $30 ex parte order presentation for up to five orders in a case (RCW 36.18.016(12)), the $5 lines for issuing letters and for a certificate of qualification (RCW 36.18.016(9)), the $20 charges for a will filed after death with no probate and for the will repository, and the $20 creditor notice where the probate was filed in another county. Fees are paid in advance and the office issues no refunds. The clerk's records page adds that document copy fees changed on the same date under HB 2543: $0.50 per page for a non-certified copy and $5 for the first page of a certified copy plus $1 for each additional page. Confirm the current figures with the Clerk before you send payment |
| Local court rules for Pacific and Wahkiakum counties, effective September 1, 2025 | The two counties' joint rules were amended effective September 1, 2025. The provisions that matter to a probate filer here are the local probate rule allowing a will to be admitted and a personal representative appointed on either oral testimony or appropriate affidavits, with the death certificate filed with the Social Security number redacted (LPGCR 1(A)); the rule sending a Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act petition into the existing probate case (LPGCR 1(B)); Wahkiakum's own motion day rule, alternating Mondays with criminal matters at 9:30 a.m. and everything else at 10:30 a.m. (LGR 1(F)), which is separate from Pacific County's Friday docket (LGR 1(E)); and the remote appearance rule with its five-business-day request and its nonrefundable $25 fee (LGR 1(H)) |
| Remote hearings by approval only, and no more live-streaming | The county's current Zoom information states that case parties are required to attend hearings in person unless prior approval to appear remotely is granted, that court proceedings are no longer live-streamed and members of the public observe by attending in person, and that only active case parties may request a Zoom appearance. An approved appearance costs $25 for each hearing, each party pays for their own, and neither the request nor the fee carries over, so a continued hearing takes a new request and a new payment |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Wahkiakum County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | If the Cathlamet or Puget Island home was community property covered by a community property agreement (RCW 26.16.120), or was held with a right of survivorship, it can pass to the surviving spouse without a probate. If assets stood in the decedent's sole name and there is a will, the spouse petitions the Superior Court in Wahkiakum County to admit the will and issue letters testamentary, and the local probate rule allows the will to be admitted and the personal representative appointed on appropriate affidavits rather than live testimony (LPGCR 1(A)). With no will, the surviving spouse has first priority for letters of administration (RCW 11.28.120(1)). Either way the spouse can ask for nonintervention powers so a solvent estate is administered without further court supervision (RCW 11.68.011), and the petition is filed with the Wahkiakum County Clerk at the courthouse in Cathlamet, at the counter, by mail, or through eFileWA, with the appointment order presented on the clerk's ex parte route. | Asset discovery to confirm how the home and the accounts are titled and what actually has to go through the court. Packet generation for the filing with the Wahkiakum County Clerk. A vetted attorney referral if a dispute arises. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | Where the estate is personal property only, the probate estate less liens and encumbrances does not exceed $100,000, and 40 days have passed since death, a claiming successor can often collect the property with a small estate affidavit instead of a court case (RCW 11.62.010). If a probate is needed, an out-of-state filer has two ways in without driving to the lower Columbia: file electronically through eFileWA, or mail the petition to the Wahkiakum County Clerk at PO Box 157, Cathlamet, WA 98612. Either way the appointment order goes through the clerk's ex parte route, by email with the required Ex Parte Cover Sheet or by mailed packet with the $30 fee and a self addressed stamped envelope for the return. | Asset discovery to confirm the estate qualifies and to locate accounts from out of state. Packet generation for the affidavit or the probate petition, prepared so an out-of-state filer can proceed electronically or by mail. |
| Parent settling a predeceased child's estate, home must be sold | Because the estate holds real property that has to be sold, the affidavit route does not reach it and the estate goes through probate: with no will the parent petitions for letters of administration in the priority order of RCW 11.28.120(1) and now must also describe the search for the heirs (RCW 11.28.110); with a will the parent probates it and receives letters testamentary. With nonintervention powers the personal representative can sell the Wahkiakum County house and distribute the proceeds without returning to court for approval (RCW 11.68.011). If a hearing is needed it is heard by the judge who serves Pacific and Wahkiakum counties, on a Wahkiakum motion day, which falls on alternating Mondays with civil matters called at 10:30 a.m. (LGR 1(F)). | Asset discovery for the child's accounts, property, and debts. Packet generation for the probate petition and the notices. Attorney referral if the sale or a dispute among heirs turns contested. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Wahkiakum County Superior Court Clerk's Office (co.wahkiakum.wa.us), (360) 795-3558 | The filing office for probate: hours, the counter at 64 Main Street in Cathlamet, the PO Box 157 mailing address, the fee schedule, the local court rules, the docket calendar, and the office mailbox [email protected]. Clerk staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice, and the county says so in terms on its legal advice page |
| eFileWA e-filing through the Wahkiakum County Clerk (co.wahkiakum.wa.us) | The clerk's e-filing page: registration, the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. filing day, the documents that cannot be e-filed, the rule that orders cannot be presented this way, and the note that Tyler Technologies rather than court staff provides technical support |
| Wahkiakum County Clerk ex parte procedure (co.wahkiakum.wa.us) | How a probate order actually gets signed here: the required Ex Parte Cover Sheet, the email and mail routes, the $30 presentation fee for up to five orders, and the warning that the clerk does not review the case file for you |
| Local court rules for Pacific and Wahkiakum counties (courts.wa.gov) | The current joint local rules, effective September 1, 2025: the local probate rule (LPGCR 1(A) and (B)), Wahkiakum's alternating Monday motion days (LGR 1(F)), ex parte practice (LGR 1(G)), remote appearance (LGR 1(H)), and bench copies (LAR 2(A)) |
| Pacific and Wahkiakum Superior Court Administration, (360) 875-9328, [email protected] | The office that schedules hearings, approves remote appearances, and schedules ex parte presentations to the judge in chambers for both counties. It is located in South Bend, in Pacific County, and it does not give legal advice |
| Wahkiakum County Court Facilitator, by appointment at (360) 875-9328 extension 2 | Basic procedural help for self-represented filers at $20 for a half-hour session and $40 for an hour, paid to the Court Clerk before the session is scheduled, with a signed GR 27 disclaimer required. Note the scope: the county's program covers family law, adult guardianship, and minor guardianship cases, not decedents' estates, so it is not probate help |
| WashingtonLawHelp (washingtonlawhelp.org) | Washington's main plain-language legal self-help publisher, with probate and small estate guides and the small estate affidavit packet (RCW 11.62.010) |
| Odyssey Portal (odysseyportal.courts.wa.gov) | The free public case search for Washington superior courts, including Wahkiakum County. Probate cases appear as superior court civil cases; document coverage varies, and the county's own registered portal access, requested through the Clerk with an annual fee, reaches more |
| Washington Courts case search (dw.courts.wa.gov) | The statewide pointer index across municipal, district, superior, and appellate courts. Useful for finding a case number, but its own notice warns that dockets, judgments, document links, and case status may be inaccurate |
| Washington Courts court directory (courts.wa.gov) | The government directory of superior court and county clerk addresses, phones, and faxes, including the separate Superior Court and County Clerk listings for Wahkiakum County |
| Northwest Justice Project CLEAR, 1-888-201-1014, nwjustice.org | Free civil legal aid intake for low-income Washington residents, Monday to Friday mornings; callers 60 and over can use CLEAR Sr at 1-888-387-7111. CLEAR targets basic-needs civil problems, so ask whether an estate matter qualifies |
| Washington State Bar Association, find legal help (wsba.org) | Lawyer referral and public resources for finding a Washington probate attorney who covers Wahkiakum County |
| Washington State Law Library (courts.wa.gov), (360) 357-2136 | Legal reference help by phone and email for anyone in the state, useful because Wahkiakum County has no law library of its own: the research terminal in the joint local rules is available in Pacific County only (LAR 1(A)) |
When to hire an attorney
Many Wahkiakum County estates are uncontested, and a personal representative granted nonintervention powers administers and closes a solvent estate without further court supervision (RCW 11.68.011), which is why plenty of families here get through probate with limited legal help. The local rule that a will may be admitted on appropriate affidavits rather than testimony (LPGCR 1(A)) makes a straightforward estate simpler still. Consider counsel when a will is contested or a dispute among heirs is likely, when the estate is insolvent or a creditor is pressing a claim, when timber ground, farmland on Puget Island, a fishing or river business, waterfront on the Columbia, or property in Oregon has to be valued or divided, when the estate is large enough to owe Washington estate tax under chapter 83.100 RCW, or when no one entitled to appointment has come forward and the petition has to be made under RCW 11.28.120(3). Scheduling and presentation are their own reasons: motions here are heard only on alternating Mondays, the appointment order has to go through the clerk's ex parte process rather than through e-filing, and a remote appearance has to be requested five business days out and approved, so a lawyer who already appears on this court's calendar can get an order signed without a wasted trip to Cathlamet. The Wahkiakum County Clerk and Court Administration can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice, and the county's court facilitator program does not cover decedents' estates. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Washington probate attorney serving Wahkiakum County.
How Sunset helps
Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Wahkiakum County real estate, and unclaimed property, so you know the estate's value and which Washington estate settlement route fits before you file.
Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, whether a probate with letters testamentary or letters of administration, a request for nonintervention powers, or a small estate affidavit, ready to file with the Wahkiakum County Clerk at the counter in Cathlamet, by mail, or through eFileWA.
Find a local probate attorney. When a matter is contested or otherwise calls for counsel, Sunset connects families to a vetted Washington probate attorney serving Wahkiakum County.
Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).
Frequently asked questions
Where do I file for probate in Wahkiakum County?
With the Wahkiakum County Clerk, the Clerk of the Superior Court, at the counter in the Wahkiakum County Courthouse, 64 Main Street in Cathlamet, by mail to PO Box 157, Cathlamet, WA 98612, or electronically through eFileWA. Washington has no separate probate court: the Superior Court in Wahkiakum County handles probate as a case type under RCW Title 11, and the County Clerk is the filing office. Watch the address on mail, because the courthouse holds more than one court: Wahkiakum County District Court is in the same building with its own PO Box and does not handle probate, and the county's Juvenile Court operates from South Bend. Washington law lets a petitioner file in any county (RCW 11.96A.050(4)), but file where the decedent lived, because venue can be moved there within four months of the notice of appointment and the creditor notice must be published in the county of residence anyway (RCW 11.40.020(2)).
Can I e-file a probate in Wahkiakum County?
Yes, and that is unusual for a county this size. The Wahkiakum County Clerk accepts electronic filing through eFileWA, the Tyler Technologies Odyssey eFile and Serve system. There is no charge for using eFile and Serve itself: you pay the statutory filing fee plus an eCommerce transaction fee on each electronic payment. Filing hours are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., excluding court holidays, and anything received outside that window is treated as received and filed at the beginning of the next business day. Some documents cannot be e-filed under GR 30, a document cover sheet is required if your pleadings do not comply with GR 14, and the clerk cannot accept a filing sent by ordinary email. One limit matters more than the rest in a probate: the clerk does not accept ex parte orders or orders for presentation through eFileWA, and a proposed order sent that way is filed in the court file rather than taken to the bench, so the order appointing a personal representative goes through the clerk's separate ex parte route.
How do I get the order appointing a personal representative signed in Wahkiakum County?
Ex parte, in most estates, and the clerk publishes two routes plus a third through chambers. By email, complete the Ex Parte Cover Sheet, which is required and without which the submission is rejected, and send the packet as one PDF attachment with the cover sheet first and the orders behind it to [email protected], with Ex Parte in the subject line and the case number and party names in the message; PDF only, clear legible scans, no photographs of documents, and every order must comply with GR 14. By mail, send the original orders, any copies you want conformed, a self addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage, and a check or money order for $30 payable to the Wahkiakum Clerk's Office, addressed to the Wahkiakum Clerk's Office, marked for ex parte, at PO Box 157, Cathlamet, WA 98612. The presentation fee is $30 for up to five orders in one case at one time (RCW 36.18.016(12)), an electronic submission adds $0.50 per page for the court to print it, and a resubmitted packet takes a new fee. An order may also be presented to the judge in chambers if the judge is available, with Court Administration called in advance at (360) 875-9328, and emergency matters may be presented at any time (LGR 1(G)). Two cautions from the clerk: payment only guarantees presentation, not signature, and the clerk does not review the case file, so file everything the order depends on first.
When does the superior court judge hear probate matters in Cathlamet?
On alternating Mondays, if your matter needs argument. One elected superior court judge serves Pacific and Wahkiakum counties (RCW 2.08.065), and under the counties' joint local rules the court is in session on all judicial days from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., with session beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Motion Day in Wahkiakum County (LGR 1(A)). Wahkiakum's motion days are scheduled on alternating Mondays and may change for holidays and vacation schedules; criminal matters are heard at 9:30 a.m. and all other matters, including a probate motion, at 10:30 a.m. unless the court orders otherwise (LGR 1(F)). The county's own Superior Court page describes the same pattern as a criminal docket twice monthly at 9:30 a.m. and civil motions twice monthly at 10:30 a.m., and the county publishes a 2026 docket calendar marking the dates, which warns that dates change to accommodate conferences and vacations. Do not use Pacific County's Friday motion day or its ten-minute argument limit here: that is a different rule in the same rule set (LGR 1(E)). Call the County Clerk at (360) 795-3558 about a specific hearing date or time. Sharing a judge affects the calendar, not the county: the estate is still filed with the Wahkiakum County Clerk and keeps a Wahkiakum County case number.
Can I appear by phone or video in a Wahkiakum County probate?
Only with the court's approval, and only for the right kind of hearing. Under LGR 1(H) of the joint local rules, motions and hearings may be heard by remote conference with the court's approval, but a remote hearing may be approved only if there will be no testimony or significant oral argument. Submit the county's Appearance by Zoom Request form to Court Administration at [email protected] at least five business days before the hearing date, with the hearing details and your reasons; Court Administration answers by email. If the request is approved, a nonrefundable $25 fee for the arrangements and the call cost is paid to the Clerk's Office before the hearing, and each party pays for their own appearance. The county adds that hearings are in person unless approval is granted, that proceedings are no longer live-streamed and the public observes in person, that only active case parties may request a Zoom appearance, that a request and its payment do not carry over to a continued hearing, and that participants are screened before admission, should check in about 10 minutes early with their name updated, and may wait up to an hour in the virtual waiting room.
How do I look up a Wahkiakum County probate case or get copies of documents?
For a free search, use Odyssey Portal, the public case search for Washington superior courts, which covers Wahkiakum County. The statewide index at dw.courts.wa.gov will also find a case, but it carries its own notice that dockets, judgments, document links, and case status may be inaccurate. For fuller access to publicly accessible Wahkiakum County records, which the clerk's page says include probate and guardianship cases, the Clerk runs a registered Odyssey Portal program: the head of the firm or the individual signs a Master Registration Form, each user signs a Subscription Agreement, the originals are mailed or delivered to the Clerk at PO Box 157 with the annual fee, and access takes about a week to process. Attorneys of record who have filed a notice of appearance can get elevated access to confidential records in their own cases. For copies, use the county's records request portal: non-certified copies are $0.50 per page and certified copies $5 for the first page plus $1 for each additional page, updated effective June 11, 2026 per HB 2543. Documents must be purchased in their entirety, mailed documents carry postage plus a handling fee, mail preparation is for United States addresses only, and confidential documents are not sent electronically.
Are there local Wahkiakum County probate forms?
There are local Wahkiakum County forms, but none of them is a probate form, and Washington has no statewide probate form set either: the courts.wa.gov forms index has no probate category (verified July 2026). The petition, the order admitting the will, the oath, and the notices are drafted documents. Two county documents do come into a probate: the Ex Parte Cover Sheet, which is required with an emailed ex parte packet and without which the submission is rejected, and the Appearance by Zoom Request form for asking Court Administration to let you appear remotely. The Note for Motion Docket and the Notice Striking Hearing matter only if a probate matter is set for argument. The joint local rules here impose no mandatory case cover sheet, unlike some Washington counties; what the clerk publishes is that a document cover sheet is required if your pleadings do not comply with GR 14. The GR 34 fee waiver forms are on courts.wa.gov, and WashingtonLawHelp publishes the plain-language packets, including the small estate affidavit kit for the route that opens no court case (RCW 11.62.010).
How much does it cost to file probate in Wahkiakum County?
$290 to open the probate, set by statute and the same in every Washington county: a $200 filing fee plus a $40 surcharge and a $50 surcharge (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f), (5)(c), (6)). The county's own schedule, effective June 11, 2026, prints the same figure for an estate probate filing, so there is no county add-on to the filing fee itself. Budget for the county's other charges: $30 to present an order ex parte for up to five orders in one case (RCW 36.18.016(12)) plus $0.50 per page if you submit it electronically, $5 to issue letters or a certificate of qualification (RCW 36.18.016(9)), $5 for the first page of a certified copy plus $1 per additional page, a nonrefundable $25 per party if the court approves a remote appearance (LGR 1(H)), and the cost of publishing the creditor notice in the county's newspaper. Fees are paid in advance (RCW 36.18.060) and the office issues no refunds; the schedule lists cash, cashier's check, money order, and law firm check, and the county also takes electronic payment through its online payment service. A filer who cannot afford the fee can ask the court to waive it under GR 34. Confirm the current schedule with the Wahkiakum County Clerk.
Where is the creditor notice published for a Wahkiakum County estate?
In a legal newspaper in the county where the estate is being administered, once each week for three successive weeks (RCW 11.40.020(1)). Wahkiakum County's weekly newspaper is the Wahkiakum County Eagle, now published as The Eagle, on Main Street in Cathlamet a short walk from the courthouse, and it runs a standing legals section for public notices. Confirm with the Wahkiakum County Clerk and with the paper before you rely on a date, and confirm the cost, because first publication starts the four-month period for creditor claims (RCW 11.40.051). If the probate was filed somewhere other than the county where the decedent lived, publication still goes in the county of residence and the notice is filed where the case was commenced (RCW 11.40.020(2)); the county's schedule charges $20 to file that creditor notice here when the probate itself was opened elsewhere.
Do I have to travel to Cathlamet to settle an estate in Wahkiakum County?
Often not. Wahkiakum is one of the smaller Washington counties that takes electronic filing, so the petition and the later filings can go through eFileWA, and the appointment order can be presented by email on the clerk's Ex Parte Cover Sheet or by a mailed packet with the $30 fee and a self addressed stamped envelope for the return. Mail works for filings too: send them to the Wahkiakum County Clerk at PO Box 157, Cathlamet, WA 98612. A personal representative granted nonintervention powers then administers and closes a solvent estate without returning to court for supervision (RCW 11.68.011). Where an appearance is needed, a remote hearing can be requested at least five business days ahead, but approval is discretionary, is limited to hearings with no testimony or significant oral argument, and carries a nonrefundable $25 fee per party that does not carry over to a continued hearing (LGR 1(H)). Distance matters most for a contested matter, which is heard in the courtroom in Cathlamet on a Wahkiakum motion day, on alternating Mondays with civil matters called at 10:30 a.m.
Shaped by the families we've helped
Thank you to the thousands of families who have trusted Sunset to help settle their loved ones' estates. This page is shaped by the questions they actually asked and the obstacles they actually hit — and that hard-won experience is what keeps it accurate, current, and genuinely useful to the families who come next.