Selling Real Property in a Washington Estate: What Changed in 2026, and What's Coming
Justin Cicero, Managing Broker · Published July 2026
Selling a decedent's real property in Washington is more procedural than most personal representatives expect, and 2026 added to it. This guide sets out what changed, what is still ahead, and a practical sequence to work through. It is written to be precise enough for the estate's attorney and plain enough to act on.
This guide is informational only. It is not legal or tax advice, and it does not create an agency relationship. Confirm how each point applies to a specific estate with the estate's attorney or CPA.
1. Why this year is different
Three things about selling a decedent's real property in Washington changed inside a single twelve-month window, and two of them are still ahead:
- The Washington estate tax exclusion and top rate changed for deaths on or after July 1, 2026, under SB 6347.
- Snohomish County's time-of-sale septic requirement takes effect November 1, 2026.
- A statewide time-of-sale septic inspection requirement takes effect February 1, 2027.
None of these is obscure, and each lands on the real property first. What follows takes them in order, with the statutes, and ends with a practical sequence.
2. Washington estate tax
Washington taxes estates above a state exclusion that sits far below the federal filing threshold. For deaths on or after July 1, 2026, the exclusion is $3,000,000. For deaths from January 1 through June 30, 2026, it was $3,076,000. The exclusion is not currently set to increase, because the consumer price index adjustment provision has expired.
SB 6347, signed March 24, 2026, set the top marginal rate at 20 percent for deaths on or after July 1, 2026, down from 35 percent.
The Washington exclusion is not portable between spouses. Unlike federal law, the unused exclusion of the first spouse to die does not carry over to the survivor.
The return and any tax due are payable nine months after the date of death.
The federal filing threshold is more than $12,000,000 higher than the state exclusion, so a Washington estate can owe state tax while never coming close to filing a federal return.
For estate real property, this is the point that matters. A single Eastside property can carry an estate past the state exclusion while never approaching the federal threshold. When the estate's liquidity is in the house, the house has to sell to meet the nine-month deadline.
These figures are current as of this guide's date and are expected to be revisited in the 2027 legislative session. Confirm the estate's exposure and the current numbers with its CPA or attorney.
3. Septic at transfer
Where a property is served by an on-site septic system, three separate regimes now bear on the sale, and they are stacking up over the next year.
King County. Under Board of Health Code Title 13 (13.60.030), the seller of residential property served by an on-site sewage system must, before title transfers, obtain a monitoring and performance inspection from a licensed On-Site System Maintainer, who files the report with Public Health, Seattle and King County. Public Health reviews within 10 business days. Before closing, the seller records a Notice of On-site Sewage System Operation and Maintenance Requirements, NWMLS form 22U, at the King County Recorder's Office, unless it is already on title.
Snohomish County, effective November 1, 2026. The seller must complete before closing: a full septic inspection within the past 12 months, tanks pumped if recommended, and an as-built record drawing on file with the Health Department. If no as-built exists, a certified septic contractor must create a site plan. Inspections may be completed up to one year before closing, and systems installed within 12 months are exempt. Review takes up to 10 days, and reports are valid 12 months.
Statewide, effective February 1, 2027. A state law makes property-transfer septic inspections mandatory in all Washington counties.
The recurring problem is the as-built. If no record drawing is on file, a contractor has to produce one before the report can be filed, and the review window runs after that. Discovering this with a closing already scheduled is the most common avoidable delay on an estate property outside the sewer service area.
State it plainly: none of this is touched by the Form 17 seller disclosure exemption. A personal representative exempt from the seller disclosure statement is still subject to the county inspection, filing, and recording requirements.
4. The Form 17 exemption, and who it does not cover
The most repeated claim in this area is that an estate or trust sale is simply exempt from the Seller Disclosure Statement, Form 17. That is half true, and the false half is where liability is created.
RCW 64.06.010(6) exempts a transfer by the personal representative of a decedent's estate, and a trustee in bankruptcy, from the Form 17 requirement. It does not exempt a successor trustee of a living trust. A successor trustee selling estate real property must complete Form 17.
Treating a living-trust sale as if it inherited the personal-representative exemption is the single most commonly misstated point in this market. Living trusts are a common way to hold Washington real property, so this is not an edge case.
6. Environmental disclosure
Two environmental conditions recur on older estate properties, and both are items in the Environmental section of Form 17, Section 7 on the residential form: an underground heating-oil storage tank, common on homes that once ran on oil heat, and lead-based paint in any home built before 1978.
Under RCW 64.06.010(7), if the answer to any question in the Environmental section would be yes, the buyer may not waive receipt of that section. The seller's own exemption from Form 17 does not change the buyer's non-waiver.
RCW 64.06.050 shields a seller from liability for errors or omissions where the seller had no actual knowledge, which is why "Don't know" is a legitimate answer when it is genuinely true.
The fiduciary problem is plain. A personal representative who never occupied the property has no idea what is buried in the yard. The avoidable risk is a tank found during the buyer's inspection with a closing already scheduled; it is cheaper to locate and resolve it before listing than in escrow.
7. What to do now
None of this is a reason to freeze. It is a reason to sequence the work so nothing surfaces late. In rough order:
- Confirm the authority to sell: letters testamentary, a nonintervention order, a trust certification, or, for a conservator, the specific court authorization.
- Locate the septic as-built, or order a drawing if none is on file, before it can gate a closing.
- Order the title commitment early. Recorded liens and easements are easier to clear before a property is listed than under contract.
- Confirm vacant-property insurance. A standard homeowner's policy may not respond once a dwelling has been unoccupied beyond its vacancy period.
- Assess the estate tax filing requirement with the estate's CPA, against the nine-month deadline.
Every estate is different, and this sequence is a starting point, not a substitute for the estate's attorney or CPA.
Beyond this guide
Where this connects to my work
This guide is educational and stands on its own. If it is useful to run the same analysis against a specific property, I prepare a written Estate Property Report at no cost and with no obligation to list: two broker price opinions, the septic and recorded-items posture, the authority path, and a sequenced plan to closing.
Once a property is engaged, a per-property dashboard keeps a dated record of activity and of the costs advanced against it, for the estate file and any court accounting.