Conservatorship Washington State: How to Manage a Parent's Finances Under Court Supervision

Your parent can no longer manage their bank accounts, and bills are piling up. Credit card companies are calling. You've been covering expenses out of your own pocket, but you can't access their accounts because no power of attorney was ever signed. The path forward in Washington is a conservatorship — court-supervised authority over your parent's financial affairs.

Washington's conservatorship process is governed by RCW 11.130, the Uniform Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act that replaced the state's older guardianship laws in January 2022.

Conservatorship vs Guardianship: The Split

Washington separates decision-making authority into two distinct roles:

• A guardian handles personal and healthcare decisions — where the parent lives, what medical treatment they receive, day-to-day care
• A conservator handles property and financial affairs — managing accounts, paying bills, filing taxes, making investment decisions

You can petition for one or both in the same filing. Many families need both, but the court evaluates each separately. A parent might retain enough capacity to make personal decisions but lack the ability to manage finances — in that case, the court might appoint a conservator only, which is the least restrictive option.

What the Filing Looks Like

The petition (Form GDN C 102) goes to Superior Court in the county where your parent resides. You'll describe:

• Why a conservatorship is needed — specific examples of financial mismanagement, vulnerability to exploitation, or inability to handle basic transactions
• What assets are at risk
• Who you're proposing as conservator (typically yourself)
• Whether alternatives to conservatorship have been considered

Filing fees vary by county: Snohomish County is listed at $240, King County at $290, and Pierce County at $310. Fee waivers are available.

The court appoints a visitor to investigate — they'll interview your parent, review the living situation, and file a recommendation. A medical evaluation under RCW 11.130.390 is mandatory: a licensed physician, psychologist, ARNP, or PA must submit a sealed report on your parent's cognitive capacity.

Personal service of the petition and hearing notice on your parent at least 15 days before the hearing. All interested parties (spouse, adult children, nearest kin) get notice by mail. If you're a lay petitioner (not a professional fiduciary), you must complete the free online lay guardian training from the Administrative Office of the Courts and file proof of completion.

The Blocked Account Requirement

This is where conservatorship gets real. To protect the parent's financial estate, the court typically requires one of two security measures:

Fiduciary bond: An insurance policy that guarantees the conservator will handle the estate properly. The premium depends on the estate's value — bonding a $200,000 estate might cost $1,000-$2,000 annually.

Blocked account: The parent's liquid assets are deposited into a financial account at a bank that signs a strict agreement with the court. No withdrawals or transfers can occur without a prior written court order. You file Form GDN ALL 006 (Receipt of Funds into Blocked Financial Account) to prove compliance.

The blocked account approach means you can't simply transfer money to pay bills — you need court authorization for each withdrawal. Some courts allow a separate operating account with a modest balance for routine expenses, while the bulk of assets sit in the blocked account. The specifics vary by county and commissioner.

The 90-Day Inventory

Within 90 days of appointment, the conservator must file a detailed, verified inventory of every asset: bank accounts, investment accounts, real property, vehicles, personal property of significant value, retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and debts owed to or by the parent. Miss this deadline and the court can hold you in contempt.

This inventory isn't a rough estimate. It requires actual account balances, property appraisals, and documentation. If your parent has accounts scattered across multiple institutions (common when cognitive decline creeps in gradually), tracking everything down within 90 days requires starting immediately after appointment.

Ongoing Financial Reporting

Conservatorship isn't a one-time filing — it's an ongoing compliance obligation:

• Annual accountings must be filed within 90 days of your appointment anniversary. These detail every dollar that came in and went out — income, disbursements, investment gains or losses, and the current balance of every account.
• Guardian's Report (Form GDN R 204) and proposed Approval Order (Form GDN R 206) must accompany the accounting.
• Copies go to all notice parties within 14 days of filing — your parent, their spouse, other adult children, anyone the court designated.
• Letters of Office expire approximately 120 days after your appointment anniversary, forcing you to file the annual report to get them reissued. If your letters lapse, banks and institutions won't honor your authority until they're renewed.

The accounting requirements are strict enough that many lay conservators hire a bookkeeper or accountant specifically for this purpose. Sloppy record-keeping is one of the fastest routes to removal by the court.

What a Conservator Can and Can't Do

You can: manage accounts, pay legitimate bills, file taxes, maintain property, make prudent investments, sell assets with court approval.

You can't (without specific court authorization): make gifts from the parent's estate, change beneficiary designations, create or modify trusts, sell real property. These are the same "hot powers" that a well-drafted POA would have authorized without court involvement.

Every major financial decision that goes beyond routine maintenance needs court approval. Want to sell the parent's house to pay for care? File a motion, get a hearing, obtain the order. Want to restructure the investment portfolio? Same process.

The Cost Reality

Guardianship and conservatorship combined typically costs $3,000-$10,000 in attorney fees for the initial filing alone, plus the filing fee, medical evaluation costs, court visitor fees, and ongoing bond premiums or accounting fees. For a family trying to preserve assets for a parent's care, these costs are a painful irony.

A durable power of attorney with hot powers — executed while the parent still had capacity — would have provided equivalent financial authority for a fraction of the cost and none of the ongoing court oversight.

If your parent still has the capacity to sign legal documents, start with a POA. If that window has closed, the Washington Power of Attorney & Guardianship Kit walks you through the conservatorship filing process step by step, including the inventory, accounting templates, and compliance calendar that keep you in good standing with the court.

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