Papering the File

WASHINGTON PROBATE recommends that you “go the extra mile” and take every conceivable action you can take to “play fair” and “avoid surprises.”  One way of doing this is to follow a practice known as “papering the file”; for example:

• When you send to an interested party a copy of a Notice & Declaration of Mailing, attach to it a copy of the pertinent Petition or Order, so that the interested party can see exactly what it is that you want and how you have stated it — ie, full disclosure.
• When you file with the Court the original of a Notice & Declaration of Mailing, attach to it a copy of at least the first page of every document (eg, a copy of the first page of the pertinent Petition or Order) that you sent to each interested party, so that the Judge can see exactly what each interested party received in terms of information.