Administrator

Key Takeaways

• A court appoints an administrator to settle an estate when the deceased left no valid will, or when the executor the will named cannot or will not serve.
• Washington's probate code files executors and administrators under one umbrella title, personal representative, so both offices carry the same powers and duties.
• Letters of administration follow a statutory priority order that starts with the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner and moves to next of kin.
• An administrator usually posts a bond, because the main bond waivers depend on will language or on a surviving spouse who takes the whole estate.

What It Means

An administrator is the person a court appoints to settle the estate of someone who has died, when no valid Will names an executor or when the named executor cannot serve. The work is the same either way: gather the estate's assets, give notice to creditors, pay valid debts and taxes, and pass what is left to the heirs. What differs is where the authority comes from. An executor is picked by the deceased and confirmed by the court. An administrator is picked by the court alone, which is why that appointment starts under closer court supervision.

Washington groups both roles under a single label, personal representative, so one set of statutory powers covers executors, administrators, and special administrators. For anyone working a real estate transaction, the practical issue is signing authority. When a house belongs to an estate, the seller is not a living owner, it is the estate acting through its personal representative. The listing, the Purchase And Sale Agreement, and the deed all have to be signed in that capacity, and the title company will want a certified copy of the letters that prove it.

How It Works in Washington

Washington probate law sits in Title 11 RCW. RCW 11.02.005 defines personal representative to include executor, administrator, and special administrator, so the two words name one office rather than two jobs. RCW 11.28.010 grants letters testamentary to the person a will appoints as executor. RCW 11.28.120, headed "Persons entitled to letters," takes over when the decedent died intestate or the representative named in the will declined or was unable to serve, and it sets a priority order that begins with the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner and then moves through next of kin. RCW 11.28.185 controls bonds, and its waivers turn largely on will language or on a surviving spouse who receives the entire estate, so a court-appointed administrator is the one more likely to post security. Once appointed, a personal representative granted nonintervention powers under RCW 11.68.090 may mortgage, lease, sell, convey, or otherwise transfer the decedent's real property without an order of the court, which is how most Washington estate sales reach closing.

Example

Ruth Ellison dies in Spokane owning a house worth about $420,000, and she left no will. Her daughter Marta petitions the superior court, is next in the priority order after Ruth's spouse (who died in 2023), and is appointed administrator with nonintervention powers under a $50,000 bond. Marta lists the house, accepts an offer of $412,000, and signs the listing, the purchase and sale agreement, and the personal representative's Deed as "Marta Ellison, Administrator of the Estate of Ruth Ellison," giving escrow a certified copy of her letters of administration. The $412,000 lands in the estate account, not in Marta's own account. Creditor claims and the excise tax are paid from that account, and the heirs are paid only after the court is satisfied the estate is ready to close.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• Executor and administrator are not interchangeable answers. An executor is named in the will, and an administrator is appointed by the court.
• An administrator does not choose who inherits. The intestate succession statutes decide that, and the administrator carries out the result.
• Letters of administration are not a deed. Letters prove the authority to act, and a separate personal representative's deed transfers title.
• Dying without a will does not hand the property to the state. Escheat happens only when no heirs can be found.