RULE CR 11
            SIGNING OF PLEADINGS, MOTIONS, AND LEGAL
                      MEMORANDA: SANCTIONS


     (a)  Every pleading, motion, and legal memorandum of a party
represented by an attorney shall be dated and signed by at least
one attorney of record in the attorney's individual name, whose
address and Washington State Bar Association membership number
shall be stated. A party who is not represented by an attorney
shall sign and date the party's pleading, motion, or legal
memorandum and state the party's address. Petitions for
dissolution of marriage, separation, declarations concerning the
validity of a marriage, custody, and modification of decrees
issued as a result of any of the foregoing petitions shall be
verified. Other pleadings need not, but may be, verified or
accompanied by affidavit. The signature of a party or of an
attorney constitutes a certificate by the party or attorney that
the party or attorney has read the pleading, motion, or legal
memorandum, and that to the best of the party's or attorney's
knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry
reasonable under the circumstances: (1) it is well grounded in
fact; (2) is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument
for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or
the establishment of new law; (3) it is not interposed for any
improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary
delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation; and (4)
the denials of  factual contentions are warranted on the
evidence or, if specifically so identified, are reasonably based
on a lack of information or belief. If a pleading, motion, or
legal memorandum is not signed, it shall be stricken unless it
is signed promptly after the omission is called to the attention
of the pleader or movant. If a pleading, motion, or legal
memorandum is signed in violation of this rule, the court, upon
motion or upon its own initiative, may impose upon the person
who signed it, a represented party, or both, an appropriate
sanction, which may include an order to pay to the other party
or parties the amount of the reasonable expenses incurred
because of the filing of the pleading, motion, or legal
memorandum, including a reasonable attorney fee.

     (b)  In helping to draft a pleading, motion or document filed by
the otherwise self-represented person, the attorney certifies
that the attorney has read the pleading, motion, or legal
memorandum, and that to the best of the attorney's knowledge,
information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable
under the circumstances: (1) it is well grounded in fact, (2) it
is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the
extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the
establishment of new law, (3) it is not interposed for any
improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary
delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation, and (4)
the denials of factual contentions are warranted on the evidence
or, if specifically so identified, are reasonably based on a
lack of information or belief.  The attorney in providing such
drafting assistance may rely on the otherwise self-represented
person's representation of facts, unless the attorney has reason
to believe that such representations are false or materially
insufficient, in which instance the attorney shall make an
independent reasonable inquiry into the facts.


[Amended effective January 1, 1974; September 1, 1985; September 1, 1990;
September 17, 1993; October 15, 2002; September 1, 2005.]