Washington reaches further into a deceased enrollee estate than most states, and it adopted the Uniform Guardianship Act for adults in 2022. Michael Holmes is licensed in Washington and advises families there on paying for long-term care, protecting a home from estate recovery, and putting decision-making authority in place before a crisis forces the issue. Figures below are current for 2026 and change annually.
Paying for Long-Term Care in Washington
Washington Apple Health operates under the federal special income level, with a Qualified Income Trust available for applicants above it — a middle position between the hard caps in Idaho and Texas and the spend-down states.
- Special income level: $2,982 per month for an individual.
- Resources: $2,000 for a single applicant.
- Personal needs allowance: $108.74 per month — among the more generous in the country.
- Community spouse resource allowance: Washington uses a state standard of $72,529, or one-half of combined resources up to the federal maximum of $162,660, whichever is greater. That state floor is more than double the federal minimum of $32,532 and is a meaningful advantage for a Washington community spouse.
- Home equity limit: $1,130,000. Lookback: 60 months.
Washington is a community property state, which changes how assets are characterized before any of those figures apply. It is also one of the few states with its own estate tax, at an exemption far below the federal threshold — a planning problem that sits alongside the Medicaid analysis rather than separate from it.
A deadline worth marking: the $1,000,000 federal home equity cap takes effect January 1, 2028 and removes the state option to elect more. Washington is among the states that must come down from $1,130,000, and in Puget Sound housing markets the difference is real.
Estate Recovery in Washington
Washington reaches unusually far. Recovery applies to “all property and any other assets you own or have legal interest in at the time of death,” expressly including non-probate assets and life estates. A revocable living trust does not put a Washington home beyond reach the way it does in California.
Washington also recovers state-funded long-term services and supports at any age, not only from age 55 as federal law requires for federally funded services. And where most states waive recovery for hardship, Washington generally delays it instead — the claim survives, it simply waits.
The combination of an expanded estate and deferral rather than waiver means Washington planning has to happen earlier than in a state like California, where a funded trust solves most of the problem on its own.
Incapacity Documents That Work in Washington
Washington adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act at RCW Chapter 11.125. A Washington power of attorney carries the uniform act protections, including remedies against a third party that unreasonably refuses to accept a valid one.
Washington splits health care authority across two chapters, which catches people out. Health care agent authority sits inside the power of attorney act at RCW 11.125.400, while the living-will instrument is the Health Care Directive under the Natural Death Act, RCW 70.122.030 — a directive to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment in a terminal condition or permanent unconscious state. A client who signed only one of the two has half the plan.
Washington runs a POLST program through the Department of Health under RCW 43.70.480 rather than a dedicated POLST statute. Legislation to codify it (HB 1724) remains in committee as of September 2026.
Guardianship and Conservatorship in Washington
Washington adopted the Uniform Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act at RCW Chapter 11.130. The adult provisions took effect January 1, 2022 — a date frequently misreported as 2021, which was the effective date for the minors provisions only.
The act reorganizes the field into guardianship of an adult, conservatorship, and a separate category of other protective arrangements: court-ordered measures short of a full guardianship, such as a single transaction authorization, which give a court a middle option it did not previously have.
Washington also enacted supported decision-making agreements at RCW 11.130.700 through .755. Between those agreements, a durable power of attorney and a health care directive, most Washington families never need to file anything.
Talk to a Washington Elder Law Attorney
Elder law questions arrive on someone else’s schedule — a hospital discharge, a diagnosis, a spouse told to “spend down.” For the multi-state picture, see our elder law overview, and for everything else we handle in the state, our Washington page. When you are ready, contact the Washington office or call the number listed there.