- What is Clark County's Guardianship Monitoring Program?
- What is a guardianship?
- What is a probate?
- What is a Will?
- Will Repository
- Forms and Additional Information
What is Clark County's Guardianship Monitoring Program
The Clark County Guardianship Monitoring Program is committed to keeping incapacitated people safe from abuse and exploitation. The program was implemented to monitor guardian's handling of the care and financial affairs of incapacitated citizens. For the mandatory Guardianship training go to http://www.courts.wa.gov/layguardiantraining.
The court appoints guardians for people who lack the capacity to make or communicate decisions. The purpose of a guardian is to protect the well being of a person with a mental or physical disability that otherwise would not be able to take care of themselves.
After someone's death, their money and property (called an estate) must be distributed to their heirs. When supervised by the courts, this process is called probate. Probate is not always necessary, but in some situations, probate may be required. Probate may be preferable when you must pay debts , claims or taxes, of if you anticipate disagreement over division of the estate.
A will is a legal document that determines what happens to your property after your death. A will states who receives property and in what amounts. Property distributed under the terms of the will become the probate estate. in addition to distribution or transferring property, a will may have other functions such as to name a guardian for any minor children or to create a trust on behalf of children or others.
The Clerk’s Office offers a will repository service. RCW 11.12.265 allows the filing of an original will with the court, under seal, before the death of the testator. The fee for this service is $20.00 per will or codicil as set by RCW 36.18.016(28). The will may be withdrawn by the testator upon showing of proper identification. Any other person, such as an attorney or Guardian, may withdraw the original will only with a court order after showing of good cause. Upon request and presentation of a certified copy of the testator’s death certificate, the Clerk’s Office will unseal the file. If a probate file is opened at that time, the full filing fee must be charged per RCW 36.18.020(2)(f).
Forms and Additional Resources
Establishing A Guardianship (PDF): This form includes step by step instructions and definitions for establishing a Guardianship
Notice of Guardianship Petition (PDF)
Petition for Guardian of the Person and/or the Estate (PDF)
Order Appointing Guardian of thePerson and/or Estate(PDF)
* The above forms and document are also available as Word documents through the Washington Courts website
Letters of Guardianship (Word doc)
Guardian ad litem Registry application (Word doc)
Guardian ad litem Oath (Word doc)
Guardian ad litem Release (Word doc)
Guardian ad Litem Registry RCW 11.88 (PDF - 10KB)
Guardian ad Litem Registry RCW 26.12 (PDF - 10KB)
Designation of Standby Guardian
(PDF)
Guardianship Summary - Review (Word doc)
Guardianship Summary - Initial
Appointment (Word doc)
Guardian's Report, Accounting and Budget
Accounting Of Guardian (PDF)
Confidential Cover Sheet (PDF)
Periodic Personal Care Plan (PDF)
Informational Video for Guardians
Pattern forms available at: Court Forms page
Additional Guardianship forms can be found on the King County Guardianship Forms website: Please remember to change caption heading to Clark County Superior court King County Guardianship Forms
