Wash. Rev. Code § 11.11.005 (2026)

(1) When construing sections and provisions of this chapter, the sections and provisions must:

(a) Be liberally construed and applied to promote the purposes of this chapter;

(b) Be considered part of a general act that is intended as unified coverage of the subject matter, and no part of this chapter may be deemed impliedly repealed by subsequent legislation if the construction can be reasonably avoided;

(c) Not be held invalid because of the invalidity of other sections or provisions of this chapter as long as the section or provision in question can be given effect without regard to the invalid section or provision, and to this end the sections or provisions of this chapter are severable;

(d) Not be construed by reference to section or subsection headings as used in this chapter, since these do not constitute any part of the law;

(e) Not be deemed to alter the community or separate property nature of any asset passing outside a testator's will or any individual's community or separate rights to the asset, and a testator's community or separate property rights to the asset are not affected by whether it passes outside the will or, under this chapter, by disposition under the will; and

(f) Not be construed as authorizing or extending the authority of any financial institution or other third party to sell or otherwise create assets that would pass outside a testator's will upon such terms as would contravene any other applicable federal or state law.

(2) The sections and provisions of this chapter apply to an owner who dies while a resident of this state on or after July 1, 1999, and to a nonprobate asset the disposition of which on the death of the owner would otherwise be governed by the law of this state.