Washington Timber Deeds and Contracts

The law of Washington concerning the interests conveyed by timber deeds and contracts is foggy. Many vital questions are still totally unanswered, or have been left in confusion, by the cases in point. The principal area of doubt revolves around the question of whether standing timber, which has been sold separately from the land on which it stands, is realty or personalty. The answer is vital for many reasons. It determines whether a husband has power as manager of the community to convey community-owned timber without his wife\u27s signature, which statute of frauds applies to a timber transaction, which recording or filing statutes apply, which laws of descent control upon the death of one of the parties to the transaction, and whether a judgment filed in the county in which the timber is located automatically constitutes a lien against it. A prior article in this law review\u27 analyzed the status of standing timber with regard to established real and personal property concepts. This paper will examine the Washington cases and statutes to demonstrate how our supreme court has actually classified standing timber in litigation