About This Form
A Personal Property Memorandum is a separate, signed document referred to in your will that lets you distribute tangible personal property (jewelry, furniture, artwork, vehicles, family heirlooms) to specific people. Washington recognizes this form under RCW 11.12.260.
Washington is unusually generous. There is no cap on the value of any single item and no cap on the total, and the statute expressly reaches articles held for investment purposes and precious metals in tangible form. The downloadable PDF is print-and-sign: 10 pages, including preprinted statutory recitations, a 20-row items table, and a signature page.
No dollar limit applies
RCW 11.12.260 places no limit on the value of any single item or on the aggregate. An item of any value may pass if it qualifies as tangible personal property, is described with reasonable certainty, and is not otherwise specifically disposed of by the will. That is the opposite of California, where Probate Code section 6132 caps single items at $5,000 and the total at $25,000. If a household holds property in more than one state, the rules do not travel with it.
Washington also allows a trust to refer to the writing
RCW 11.12.260 permits a trust that becomes irrevocable at or before the grantor's death to refer to a writing of this kind. This form is drafted to operate through the will. If the plan is trust-centered and the memorandum should work from the trust instead, that is a drafting question for the attorney rather than an edit to this form.
What Counts As Tangible Personal Property
RCW 11.12.260 defines tangible personal property as articles of personal or household use or ornament. The statute gives examples and then carves out a specific exclusion list, and the carve-outs are where Washington memoranda usually go wrong.
Included: furniture and furnishings, automobiles, boats, airplanes, jewelry, precious metals in any tangible form, household goods, tools, personal effects, and articles held for investment purposes.
Excluded: mobile homes, money that is normal currency or legal tender, bank accounts and other monetary deposits, securities, evidences of indebtedness, documents of title, property used primarily in a trade or business, any intangible property, and anything the will already specifically gives to someone.
Investment articles and precious metals are in scope
Gold or silver bullion, an investment-grade coin collection, or a painting bought as an investment can pass under this memorandum with no dollar cap. Securities cannot, because a security is intangible no matter how it is held. The line the statute draws is physical object versus paper claim.
When To Use It
Use this form to record who receives which items without amending the will each time the answer changes. Because Washington sets no cap, the memorandum can carry genuinely valuable property here, which makes precise description more important rather than less.
Your will must reference this memorandum
RCW 11.12.260 gives the writing effect only if an unrevoked will refers to it. If the will contains no such reference, this form has no legal effect. Talk to your estate attorney about adding the reference language. Bancroft-generated wills already include the reference clause.
Why the date matters even though the statute does not demand it
Washington conditions effect on handwriting or signature rather than on a date. But where two or more otherwise effective writings exist, the most recent controls any inconsistent provisions in the earlier ones. Without a date nobody can sequence them. An undated memorandum is not necessarily invalid in Washington, it is merely impossible to order, which produces the same argument at distribution time.
Property you no longer own at death
This memorandum reaches only property owned at death. Sell, give away, or lose a listed item and the direction for it fails, with nothing substituted. If a named person does not survive the testator, the property passes as otherwise directed here, and absent further direction the disposition lapses and the item falls back into the will.
The Carve-Outs
Two Washington exclusions catch people out often enough to name separately.
- Mobile homes are excluded by name. They look like tangible property, and a manufactured home may be the most valuable thing the household owns, but the statute puts them outside the memorandum entirely.
- Property used primarily in a trade or business is excluded. The tools in the garage may qualify while the same tools used in a contracting business do not. The test is primary use, not the object.
If either applies, that property belongs in the will or trust instead. Which category a given situation falls into is a question for the attorney, not for this form. For the broader picture of what belongs where, see estate planning 101.
What's Inside the PDF
- A two-page introduction covering the legal framework and the statutory definition
- A full inclusion and exclusion table drawn directly from RCW 11.12.260
- A one-page identification block with fields for your full legal name and the date your will was executed
- Preprinted statutory recitations that anchor the document to RCW 11.12.260
- A 20-row items table across a main page and a continuation page, with columns for description, recipient, and notes
- Initial lines on each items page so it is clear all pages belong to the same memorandum
- A signature page with a date line
- Optional witness blocks, clearly marked optional, for extra evidentiary weight
Statutory Basis
This form is drafted to comply with RCW 11.12.260, which authorizes a writing referred to in a will to dispose of items of tangible personal property. Under the statute, the memorandum:
- Has effect only if an unrevoked will refers to it
- May be prepared before or after the will is executed
- Need not have significance apart from its effect on the will's dispositions
- Must be in the testator's handwriting or signed by the testator
- Must describe the items and recipients with reasonable certainty
- Carries no dollar limit, per item or in aggregate
- Cannot reach the statutory exclusions, including mobile homes, securities, and trade or business property
- Need not be witnessed or notarized
Bancroft does not provide legal advice. If you have questions about whether your will references a memorandum, or whether a particular item falls inside the statutory definition, consult a Washington-licensed estate attorney.
Download
Download the PDF below. Print it on standard letter paper, fill it out in pen, sign and date the signature page, and store it with your will.
The memorandum works alongside the will that references it. For how it sits beside the rest of the suite, see the document quick reference. The rules here are specific to Washington: the California form carries statutory dollar caps, and the Michigan and Florida forms follow their own.