​Your agent is the person you name in your power of attorney document. This person will have the power to manage financial or healthcare matters on your behalf. Sometimes a power of attorney document will refer to an attorney-in-fact instead of an agent. These are two different terms for the same position. 

​A personal representative is the person you name in your will to manage your estate after you die. The personal representative performs several tasks on behalf of your estate, including talking with your heirs, determining the value of your estate, and distributing your estate's assets. A personal representative might also be referred to as an executor. The terms personal representative and executor are interchangeable. 

​The difference between an agent and a personal representative is when an agent and a personal representative can act. Agents have the power to manage financial or healthcare matters when you are alive but are incapacitated or unable to make decisions about your finances or healthcare. Personal representatives act only after your death. Stated differently, death is the dividing line delineating when agents and personal representatives act. Whatever authority and power your agent has ends with your death. Meanwhile, your personal representative has the power to act only after your death. 

After a person dies, their assets need to be distributed to their heirs. Probate is the legal process of figuring out what assets the deceased owned and then transferring those assets to the heirs.

​No. Whether or not probate needs to be opened depends on many factors. Probate is not always necessary, but in some situations it may be required.

​Yes. If there is no will, the person appointed by the court distributes the decedent’s assets according to Washington's intestate laws. 

A personal representative is a person (typically named in a will) that the court appoints to pay bills and taxes, deal with the deceased person’s belongings, and distribute the remaining assets to the heirs. 

​Probate assets can include real estate titled in the deceased person's name, financial accounts with no beneficiary designations, cash, vehicles titled in the deceased person's name, and tangible personal property owned by the deceased. 

​Washington state statute defines what non-probate assets are. Typically, these are assets that are not distributed through a will and that are distributed to beneficiaries according to other documents. Some examples include financial accounts that are held jointly with right of survivorship or have a transfer on death or paid on death designation, property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or real property conveyed through a transfer on death deed.