WA-Probate > Washington-Guardianship > Managing the Guardianship/Guardian of the Estate: Court Reporting Requirements

II.  Managing the Guardianship

C.  Guardian of the Estate: Court Reporting Requirements

1. Promptly Following Appointment

   1. Designation of Standby Guardian

2. By 3 Months After Appointment

   1. Guardianship Inventory

   2. Proposed Disbursements

3. Yearly After Appointment

   1. Annual Account

   2. Reporting Periods Longer Than One Year

4. Upon Extraordinary Changes

   1. Change of Address of Guardian

   2. Change in Circumstances of Incapacitated Person

   3. Death of Incapacitated Person

5. Working with a Blocked Account

1.  Promptly Following Appointment     ñ

Note: If you have been appointed as Guardian of both the Person and Estate, then you have likely already designated a Standby Guardian according to the instructions on the prior pages; if so, you may ignore this Designation unless you want to designate different persons as Standby Guardians of the Person and of the Estate.

a.  Designation of Standby Guardian     ñ

Designate a Standby Guardian --- someone who will serve as Guardian if you are unable to continue to do so.  Complete and sign a:

have your designated Standby Guardian sign the Designation, consenting to his/her designation, and then:

• File its original with the Court, and
   

• Send a copy to each of:
   

  • The designated Standby Guardian,
     

  • The Incapacitated Person,
     

  • Any spouse of the Incapacitated Person,
     

  • Any adult child of the Incapacitated Person,
     

  • Any facility in which the Incapacitated Person resides,
     

  • Any person entitled to Special Notice, and
     

  • Any person entitled to receive pleadings under RCW 11.88.095(2)(g).  RCW 11.88.125(1)

2.  By 3 Months After Appointment     ñ

a.  Guardianship Inventory     ñ

RCW 11.92.040(1) requires you to prepare a Guardianship Inventory of all guardianship assets, including a statement of all encumbrances, liens, or other secured charges against any item, and to determine the net value of each item, as of your date of appointment, after deducting the encumbrances, liens, and other secured charges against the item.

    1.  Print a
 

    2.  Marshal, Inventory, Categorize, and, If the Incapacitated Person Is Married, Characterize All of His/Her Assets

All assets, whether probate or nonprobate, titled in the name of the Incapacitated Person will need to have his/her name removed from the title and be re-titled in your name as Guardian.  So before we can get on with changing their title, we must first:

1. Discover all the assets owned by the Incapacitated Person on the date of your appointment.  See: Assets That Slip Through the Cracks.
    

2. Take control over them.
    

3. If the Incapacitated Person was married on the date of your appointment: Characterize them as either separate, community, or quasi-community property, revealing the extent to which the Incapacitated Person's spouse has any marital interest in the asset.  See: Determining the Spouse's Marital Interest.
    

4. Inventory them.

Presumably by now you have discovered all of the Incapacitated Person's assets and taken control over them.  Now, to the extent you have not already done so, the task is as follows:

• If the Incapacitated Person was married on the date of your appointment, to characterize each asset (ie, as community, quasi-community, or separate).
   

• To inventory the Incapacitated Person's interest in the assets (ie, one-half of community & quasi-community and all of separate).
   

• To appraise them.
   

• To inventory all of the Incapacitated Person's debts and other liabilities, whether a straight, unsecured debt (eg, charge accounts, utility bills, etc.) or a security interest in a guardianship asset (eg, a pledge on personal property, such as a vehicle or securities, or a mortgage or note + deed of trust on real property, such as a home).

    3.  Omit Most Items of Tangible Personal Property    ñ

Individual items of tangible personal property may be omitted unless they have substantial financial value (eg, cars, large boats, planes, certain collectibles, such as expensive antiques, art objects, books, jewelry, etc.).

    4.  Omit Partnership Property    ñ

Any interest the Incapacitated Person had in any partnership should be described in terms of his or her respective partnership share, but no inventory of partnership property is required.

    5   Inventory of Real Property    ñ

The description of any interest the Incapacitated Person had in any real property should include its legal description, and its appraisement should include, in addition to its gross and net values, its current assessed value for property tax purposes.

    6.  Account for Marital Interest    ñ

You should include all community or quasi-community property valued at its full value, together with a notation as to the Incapacitated Person's one-half interest in such property.  For example, if the Incapacitated Person and his/her spouse owned their home as community property (eg, they purchased it during their marriage with community funds), then the Guardianship Inventory should show:

• The home, with its value shown in terms of its whole community interest as of the date of your appointment, and
   

• The Incapacitated Person's one-half community interest in the home.

    7.  Make Sure to Inventory Any Claim Against You    ñ

Any claim (eg, for money or other property owed to the Incapacitated Person) that the Incapacitated Person had against his/her Guardian (ie, you) should expressly be included.

    8.  Appraise the Inventory Items    ñ

As the Guardian, you should determine the value of each item on the Guardianship Inventory, do so on the basis of its reasonable net asset value (listing both its current gross value together with a statement of any encumbrance, lien, or secured charge against the item), and do so as of your date of appointment.

    9.  File the Inventory    ñ

Timing:  Within 3 months after your appointment.

b.  Proposed Disbursements     ñ

The Guardianship Inventory reveals the assets and liabilities of the guardianship --- the proposed disbursements reveals its income and expense.  If you plan to make periodic disbursements, you will need to file a Petition re Proposed Disbursements and obtain Court approval for your plan.  RCW 11.92.040(6)  If you do file such a Petition, it is routine to seek approval as well of your Inventory.  To do so, complete a:

and an

and see: Procedure for Filing Guardianship Petitions.

Timing: Within 3 months of your appointment.

3.  Yearly After Appointment     ñ

Caution: The "anniversary date" of your appointment as Guardian is critical in satisfaction of your Court reporting requirements and is often overlooked by Guardians (especially those not represented by lawyers), to the consternation of the Court.  Courts want (and the law requires) Annual Reports and Annual Accounts to be made annually and for the annual period:

• Beginning on the date of your appointment (or every year thereafter), and
   

• Ending on the next anniversary date of your appointment (ie, twelve months later).

With rare exceptions, all Reports and Accounts are required to be filed by 90 days (effectively, three months) after the end of their period.

Example: You were appointed on April 23, 2001.  On every April 23 thereafter, you are required to prepare and, by 90 days thereafter, to file with the Court an Annual Account of the Incapacitated Person for the one-year period ending on that April 23 date.  Your first Annual Account would be made for the one-year period from April 23, 2001 through April 23, 2002, and filed by July 23, 2002, effectively three months later, etc.

Some Guardians prefer to set their period to end on the last day of the month in which their anniversary date falls (or the immediately preceding month), for example, March 31 or April 30 for an April 23 anniversary date.  While this is not "within the letter of the law," your author has never seen a Court question this practice (so long as there are no "gaps" between periods.  Examples for an April 23, 2001 anniversary date:

a.  Annual Account     ñ

An Annual Account is your accounting of the assets and the income and expense of the guardianship made upon every anniversary of your appointment.  RCW 11.92.040(2)

The Court supplies two variations of Annual Account forms, depending on the amount of "liquid assets" (ie, cash and securities) in the guardianship estate and the current amount of the Washington homestead exemption, currently (October, 2004) $40,000:

• Over $80,000:  If the amount of liquid assets in your guardianship estate exceeds $80,000 (ie, twice the state homestead exemption), you are required to use what is known as the "Long Form" of the Annual Account, which is a traditional accounting, itemizing each item of income and expense.
   

• Under $80,000:  If the amount of liquid assets in your guardianship estate is less than $80,000, you may (but are not required to) use what is known as the "Short Form" of the Annual Account, which is a summary accounting, allowing you to group similar items of income and expense, a substantially easier task than using the "Long Form."

Complete whichever form is appropriate:

or

and, regardless whichever of those two forms you chose, also complete an:

and see: Procedure for Filing Guardianship Petitions.

Timing: By 90 days after the anniversary date (eg, 1 year and 3 months after your date of appointment, ie, your "anniversary date," for your First Annual Account).

Chances are that the Court will approve your Account ... but not necessarily.

In its review of your Account, it may have questions it wants answered or it may find errors, in which case it will return your Account to you with an explanation and ask you to revise and resubmit it for approval.

Alternatively (but, thankfully, infrequently), the Court may not have substantive problems with your Account as submitted, but, "where the size or condition of the estate warrants it," it may want you to hold a noticed hearing on your Account, in which case it will set it for hearing and ask you to send Notice of Hearing to all those eligible to receive notice.  RCW 11.92.050(1)

And if the Court is really cautious, it may not only set the Account for a noticed hearing, but it may also appoint a Financial Guardian ad Litem to review the Account and report back in writing to the Court at the hearing.  An Order Approving Guardian's Annual Account is final and binding on the Incapacitated Person only if it results from a noticed hearing with a Guardian ad Litem having been appointed; otherwise, a Guardian's Annual Account is subject to review upon the Guardian's Final Account.  RCW 11.92.050(1)  If there is some transaction in your Annual Account whose propriety you want settled for all time, you should petition the Court for a noticed hearing and the appointment of a Financial GAL.

Lastly, if you have received any currently valid Request for Special Notice, you are required (at least in King County) to:

• File only your Account (not your Order) with the Court,

• Set a hearing for your Account at the Court Clerk's Office

• Send Notice of Hearing to all those entitled to it, including each person from whom you have received a currently valid Request for Special Notice,

• Depending on the local Court rules of your county, mostly likely send a Working Copy of your documents (Account + Notice + proposed Order) to the Probate Department of your Court, and

• Attend the hearing, bringing the original of your Order with you to the hearing.

Note: Technically, the formal name for what this website calls an Annual Account is an "Interim Account " or "Intermediate Account."  Furthermore, if not only a Guardian of the Estate but also a Guardian of the Person has been appointed (usually the same person), then the Guardian of the Person's Interim Report is due at the same time that the Guardian of the Estate's "Interim Account" is due.  Most Interim Accounts are due annually, which is why Interim Reports and Interim Accounts are known as Annual Reports and Annual Accounts.  Occasionally, however, a Guardian of the Estate may be required to account only every three years or, even more rarely, every two years --- in which case those Reports & Accounts are known as Tri-ennial and Bi-ennial Reports & Accounts, respectively.

Side-bar: A common occurrence (at least in your author's experience in King County, in which he has reviewed his share of filed Accounts) is that:

• A Guardian will overlook his/her anniversary date,
   

• Become aware that his/her Account is way overdue, and then
   

• Prepare the Account not for the scheduled (usually) annual period but, instead, for the period up to the time he/she became aware that the Account was due --- resulting in an Account covering a odd period, such as 17 months or 2 years and 3 months etc.

Accounts should be reported for their scheduled period only.  So, if you find yourself in the above situation, instead of filing an Account covering, for example, 17 months, file it for its scheduled 12 month period, wait-out the remaining 7 months, and then file the next Account covering the next scheduled 12 month period.

Courts (at least the King County Court) want Accounts reported on the basis of their scheduled anniversary dates.

b.  Reporting Periods Longer Than One Year     ñ

The General Rule: Guardians are required to report or account to the Court every year, as of their "anniversary date" --- their date of appointment.

Exceptions:

1. 3 Years: Personal Property under $80,000 + Court Approval: Upon the approval of the Court, any Guardian may file his/her Report or Account only every three years if the value of personal property (ie, assets other than real property) in the guardianship estate does not exceed $80,000 (technically, twice the Washington homestead exemption, currently, October, 2004, $40,000).
    

   Example: With prior Court approval and if no Guardian of the Estate has been appointed, a Guardian of the Person may submit his/her Report only every three years.  RCW 11.92.040(3)

    

2. No Account Required: Minor with Blocked Account: A Guardian of the Estate need not file any Account so long as:
    

   1. The Incapacitated Person is a minor,
       

   2. All funds of the guardianship are held in a blocked account for the benefit of the minor, and
       

   3. No withdrawals are made from the blocked account.
       

   If a withdrawal is desired to be made from the blocked account, the Guardian must petition the Court for approval of the withdrawal and simultaneously submit an Inventory and an Account.  RCW 11.92.040(3)

Caution: A Guardian is required to report to the Court within 30 days of any "substantial change in income or assets of the guardianship estate."  RCW 11.92.040(3)

4.  Upon Extraordinary Changes     ñ

a.  Change of Address of Guardian     ñ

If you move during your service as Guardian, you should inform the Court and all the other interested parties of your change of address.  To do so:

1. Complete a:

2. File the original with the Court, and
    

3. Send a copy to each person of the Notice List of the Guardianship.

b.  Change in Circumstances of Incapacitated Person     ñ

If any significant change occurs in the circumstances of the Incapacitated Person, you should inform the Court and all the other interested parties of the change.  Possibilities include a material change in:

• Income,
   

• Assets, or
   

• Financial entitlements (eg, inheritances, eligibility for governmental benefits, etc.).

To do so:

1. Complete a:

2. File the original with the Court, and
    

3. Send a copy to each person of the Notice List of the Guardianship.

Timing: Within 30 days of the change.  RCW 11.92.040(3)

Note: A Guardian of the Person is required to report any change of address of the Incapacitated Person.  RCW 11.92.043(3)  Surprisingly, if a Guardian of the Estate Only has been appointed and the Incapacitated Person moves, although it would seem helpful for the change of address to be reported, no statutory requirement for that has been found.

c.  Death of Incapacitated Person     ñ

If the Incapacitated Person dies, then the guardianship automatically terminates (RCW 11.88.140(1)(c)), and you should:

1. Complete a:

2. File the original with the Court, and
    

3. Send a copy of it to each person on the Notice List of the Guardianship.

Timing: Within 30 days of date of death.  RCW 11.92.043(3)

Lastly, you must undertake the Final Report & Account procedure (and file your Final Report & Account within 90 days of date of death).  See: Incapacitated Person Dies.

5.  Working with a Blocked Account     ñ

The foregoing are the major informational reports that you are required to make as Guardian of the Estate, to keep the Court and the interested parties informed about the Incapacitated Person, his/her assets, income, and expense, and your service as Guardian.

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