Disclaimers (DIS)

How do I file a disclaimer?

General Information

Under the law of the District of Columbia, a disclaimer is defined as the refusal to accept an interest in or power over property. The effect of a disclaimer is to allow the interest to pass to an alternate beneficiary. The disclaimer extinguishes the interest in a property as if that interest had never been granted.

There is no disclaimer form. The disclaimer must (1) be in a writing or other record, (2) declare the disclaimer, (3) describe the interest or power disclaimed, (4) be signed by the person making the disclaimer, (5) be delivered or filed in the manner provided by DC Code, sec. 19-1512, and (6) include the telephone number and street address of the person who is disclaiming.

The law on disclaimers may be found in Title 19 of the DC Code, Chapter 15. The District of Columbia Code may be found here. The Probate Division Rules may be found here.

A disclaimer is filed in the Probate Division at the Legal Branch of the Probate Division located at 515 5th Street, NW, Room 312, Washington, DC 20001. The original disclaimer and a Certificate of Filing Disclaimer should be filed. They will be assigned a case number and filed in a DIS case jacket. If there is an estate case on record, the DIS case will be linked in the Court’s computer system to the estate case, and a copy of the disclaimer will be docketed and scanned into the record of the estate case.