Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Washington has no statutory percentage fee for either the personal representative or the probate attorney. RCW 11.48.210 sets one just-and-reasonable standard for both, decided by the court case by case, not a fee schedule quoted anywhere online.
RCW 11.48.210: one reasonableness standard, not a percentage schedule
Washington’s controlling statute, RCW 11.48.210, Compensation, Attorney’s fees, governs both the personal representative and the estate’s attorney under the same test. The statute reads that an attorney performing services for the estate at the instance of the personal representative shall have such compensation as the court shall deem just and reasonable, the identical standard the same section sets for the personal representative’s own pay. Nowhere in the section, or elsewhere in Title 11, is a percentage of estate value tied to either role.
How a Washington court actually reviews the fee
RCW 11.48.210 lets the compensation be requested at the final account or, at any time during administration, on application to the court for an allowance upon the compensation of the personal representative and upon attorney’s fees. Superior Court Special Proceedings Rule SPR 98.12W adds the procedural layer: before any fee is allowed, the amount of compensation claimed shall be definitely and clearly set forth in the application, and all interested parties shall be given notice of the amount claimed, unless the application is folded into a report or final account.
Washington’s nonintervention powers mean most fees never reach a judge
A genuinely state-specific wrinkle is nonintervention administration under RCW 11.68.011, which the statute directs the court to grant to a solvent estate’s named personal representative essentially as of right. Under nonintervention powers, the personal representative administers and pays estate expenses, including the attorney’s bill, without routine court supervision. The just-and-reasonable ceiling in RCW 11.48.210 still applies as a matter of law, but for the large share of Washington probates administered this way it functions as a standard the PR and attorney must be prepared to defend if a beneficiary objects and forces an accounting, rather than a figure a judge signs off on up front.
The rest of the arithmetic: Washington probate cost.
How the fee models compare across all 51 jurisdictions: probate cost by state, and the national picture on what a probate attorney costs.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; fee statutes change and a court retains the final say on what is reasonable.
The attorney fee above is separate from what the court itself charges just to open the case, see the Washington probate filing fee.