Washington Code 11.11.010 – Definitions
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The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
Terms Used In Washington Code 11.11.010
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Washington Code 11.02.005
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- person: may be construed to include the United States, this state, or any state or territory, or any public or private corporation or limited liability company, as well as an individual. See Washington Code 1.16.080
- Personal representative: includes executor, administrator, special administrator, and conservator or limited conservator and special representative. See Washington Code 11.02.005
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- Trustee: means an original, added, or successor trustee and includes the state, or any agency thereof, when it is acting as the trustee of a trust to which chapter 11. See Washington Code 11.02.005
(1)(a) “Actual knowledge” means:
(i) For a financial institution, whether acting as personal representative or otherwise, or other third party in possession or control of a nonprobate asset, receipt of written notice that: (A) Complies with RCW 11.11.050; (B) pertains to the testamentary disposition or ownership of a nonprobate asset in its possession or control; and (C) is received by the financial institution or third party after the death of the owner in a time sufficient to afford the financial institution or third party a reasonable opportunity to act upon the knowledge; and
(ii) For a personal representative that is not a financial institution, personal knowledge or possession of documents relating to the testamentary disposition or ownership of a nonprobate asset of the owner sufficient to afford the personal representative reasonable opportunity to act upon the knowledge, including reasonable opportunity for the personal representative to provide the written notice under RCW 11.11.050.
(b) For the purposes of (a) of this subsection, notice of more than thirty days is presumed to be notice that is sufficient to afford the party a reasonable opportunity to act upon the knowledge, but notice of less than five business days is presumed not to be a sufficient notice for these purposes. These presumptions may be rebutted only by clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.
(2) “Beneficiary” means the person designated to receive a nonprobate asset upon the death of the owner by means other than the owner’s will.
(3) “Broker” means a person defined as a broker or dealer under the federal securities laws.
(4) “Date of will” means, as to any nonprobate asset, the date of signature of the will or codicil that refers to the asset and disposes of it.
(5) “Designate” means a written means by which the owner selects a beneficiary, including but not limited to instruments under contractual arrangements and registration of accounts, and “designation” means the selection.
(6) “Financial institution” means: A bank, trust company, mutual savings bank, savings and loan association, credit union, broker, or issuer of stock or its transfer agent.
(7)(a) “Nonprobate asset” means a nonprobate asset within the meaning of RCW 11.02.005, but excluding the following:
(i) A right or interest in real property passing under a joint tenancy with right of survivorship;
(ii) A deed or conveyance for which possession has been postponed until the death of the owner;
(iii) A transfer on death deed;
(iv) A right or interest passing under a community property agreement; and
(v) An individual retirement account or bond.
(b) For the definition of “nonprobate asset” relating to revocation of a provision for a former spouse or former domestic partner upon dissolution of marriage or state registered domestic partnership or declaration of invalidity of marriage or state registered domestic partnership, see RCW 11.07.010(5).
(8) “Owner” means a person who, during life, has beneficial ownership of the nonprobate asset.
(9) “Request” means a request by the beneficiary for transfer of a nonprobate asset after the death of the owner, if it complies with all conditions of the arrangement, including reasonable special requirements concerning necessary signatures and regulations of the financial institution or other third party, or by the personal representative of the owner’s estate or the testamentary beneficiary, if it complies with the owner’s will and any additional conditions of the financial institution or third party for such transfer.
(10) “Testamentary beneficiary” means a person named under the owner’s will to receive a nonprobate asset under this chapter, including but not limited to the trustee of a testamentary trust.
(11) “Third party” means a person, including a financial institution, having possession of or control over a nonprobate asset at the death of the owner, including the trustee of a revocable living trust and surviving joint tenant or tenants.