How to get excused from jury duty in Thurston County, Washington
The excusal routes Thurston County, Washington actually recognizes — what each one needs, who decides, and where it goes.
Thurston is one of the few counties where a letter you write is genuinely the mechanism — not a form, not a hearing. But it is a two-step process and the first step is easy to skip: you complete the on-line response pages first, and only then send a written letter citing your reason with the supporting documents. Three things the county says that cut against what most people assume. A medical letter does not need to name your condition — “this statement does not need to include personal medical information, but simply the provider’s recommendation as to whether you should serve.” A financial request does not need your figures — “you do not need to divulge financial information.” And a financial request needs two letters, not one: yours, and your employer’s on company letterhead stating its jury pay policy. Everything must arrive at least four business days before your term begins, and you will get an advisory postcard either way — so make sure the county holds your current mailing address.
Your routes in Thurston County, Washington
Age 80 or olderIncluded — but the age here is 80, and health matters
A letter stating you are at least 80 and unable to serve for health reasons. No doctor’s note needed. A county form exists but is not required.
Thurston County Superior Court — published Jury Service page. “80 years of age or older: Please provide a letter that states you are at least 80 years old and unable to serve due to health reasons. You do not need to provide a doctor’s note or medical documentation. A form is available for you to use but is not required.”
Eighty is the highest age threshold anywhere in this project, and twelve counties have now been asked. Most set it at 70. One sets it at 75.
The comparison that matters most is not across the country — it is across this state. Another Washington county excuses anyone over 70 on request, with no reason required and nothing to state beyond the asking. Thurston asks for ten more years and a health reason. Same state, same statutes, and a completely different answer, which is the clearest evidence you will find that these rules are made locally by each court and cannot be carried from one county to the next.
The saving grace is what the county does not ask for: no doctor’s note, no medical documentation, no diagnosis. Your own letter, saying both things.
See the full detail →Eighty is the highest age threshold anywhere in this project, and twelve counties have now been asked. Most set it at 70. One sets it at 75.
The comparison that matters most is not across the country — it is across this state. Another Washington county excuses anyone over 70 on request, with no reason required and nothing to state beyond the asking. Thurston asks for ten more years and a health reason. Same state, same statutes, and a completely different answer, which is the clearest evidence you will find that these rules are made locally by each court and cannot be carried from one county to the next.
The saving grace is what the county does not ask for: no doctor’s note, no medical documentation, no diagnosis. Your own letter, saying both things.
Full-time studentIncluded — and they will move you to a break
A copy of your class schedule or a letter from the registrar’s office. The county asks you to phone so it can reschedule you into a winter, spring or summer break.
Thurston County Superior Court — published Jury Service page. “Student: Requires a copy of your class schedule or letter from the registrar’s office. Please call 360-754-4107 so we can reschedule during your winter, spring, or summer break.”
Note the verb: reschedule. Thurston is not proposing to take you out of the pool; it is proposing to put you in it at a time when you are not in class. For most students that is the right answer and it is offered without argument.
The class schedule is almost always the easier of the two documents — it is available to you today, whereas a registrar’s letter takes a request and a wait. Phone as well as writing, because the rescheduling conversation is one the county has asked to have.
See the full detail →Note the verb: reschedule. Thurston is not proposing to take you out of the pool; it is proposing to put you in it at a time when you are not in class. For most students that is the right answer and it is offered without argument.
The class schedule is almost always the easier of the two documents — it is available to you today, whereas a registrar’s letter takes a request and a wait. Phone as well as writing, because the rescheduling conversation is one the county has asked to have.
Active military serviceIncluded — mission-essential, under 10 USC 982
Notification of base assignment plus a deployment order or a commander’s letter designating you mission essential under 10 USC 982. Redact your Social Security Number.
Thurston County Superior Court — published Jury Service page. “Military: Request needs to include notification of base assignment, copy of deployment order or commander’s letter designating that the service member is mission essential in accordance with 10 USC 982. Redact your Social Security Number and any other sensitive information.”
This is a narrower ground than most military provisions in this dataset, and the narrowness is deliberate. Other counties in this project accept current orders, or active duty stationed away from the area. Thurston points at 10 USC 982 and the phrase mission essential, which is a determination someone in your chain of command has to make and put in writing.
The redaction instruction is unusual and worth honoring precisely. Military paperwork carries a great deal that a county jury office has no need of, and Thurston has asked you to take it out before sending rather than trusting it will be ignored.
See the full detail →This is a narrower ground than most military provisions in this dataset, and the narrowness is deliberate. Other counties in this project accept current orders, or active duty stationed away from the area. Thurston points at 10 USC 982 and the phrase mission essential, which is a determination someone in your chain of command has to make and put in writing.
The redaction instruction is unusual and worth honoring precisely. Military paperwork carries a great deal that a county jury office has no need of, and Thurston has asked you to take it out before sending rather than trusting it will be ignored.
Any other reasonIncluded — the catch-all, with one hard limit
A written request giving your Juror ID number, full name and term of service. One thing it cannot rest on: your profession.
Thurston County Superior Court — published Jury Service page. “Other: Written requests should include your Juror ID #, your full name, and your term of service. Please remember that Washington Law recognizes no exemptions based only on a person’s profession.”
That last sentence heads off the commonest kind of request an office like this receives, and it is worth reading carefully, because it does not say what people fear it says. It rules out “I am a nurse, therefore I am exempt.” It does not rule out an account of what your absence would actually cause.
If your reason has a home under one of the county’s named headings, use that heading and send what it asks for. “Other” is for what genuinely does not fit.
See the full detail →That last sentence heads off the commonest kind of request an office like this receives, and it is worth reading carefully, because it does not say what people fear it says. It rules out “I am a nurse, therefore I am exempt.” It does not rule out an account of what your absence would actually cause.
If your reason has a home under one of the county’s named headings, use that heading and send what it asks for. “Other” is for what genuinely does not fit.
Medical excusalA letter from your provider — and it must NOT name your condition
A letter from your physician or health care provider giving a recommendation on whether you should serve. The county says it does not need personal medical information — but it does need five specific things.
Thurston County Superior Court — published Jury Service page. “Medical: Requires letter or note from your physician or health care provider. This statement does not need to include personal medical information, but simply the provider’s recommendation as to whether you should serve. The letter must include your Juror ID #, your full name, doctor’s full name and contact information, and signature. This excusal will be valid for only this term of service (12 months from summons date). If a permanent excusal is necessary, the letter from the physician or health care provider must include that language.”
Two instructions pull in opposite directions, and both are easy to get wrong.
The first is what to leave out. A practice asked for “a note for jury duty” will usually describe the condition, because that is what medical letters do. Thurston does not want it. Three counties in this project have now said the same thing in the same week, and a letter that volunteers a diagnosis is handing a county office information it asked you not to send.
The second is what to put in. There is no form here with a box to tick, so if a permanent excusal is what your situation calls for, the words have to be in the letter — and they will not be unless somebody asks for them before it is written. That somebody is you.
This is why the sheet below still exists in Thurston when it has come off other counties this week. Where a county supplies a form, the form does the work. Here there is nothing but a blank sheet and five requirements.
Two instructions pull in opposite directions, and both are easy to get wrong.
The first is what to leave out. A practice asked for “a note for jury duty” will usually describe the condition, because that is what medical letters do. Thurston does not want it. Three counties in this project have now said the same thing in the same week, and a letter that volunteers a diagnosis is handing a county office information it asked you not to send.
The second is what to put in. There is no form here with a box to tick, so if a permanent excusal is what your situation calls for, the words have to be in the letter — and they will not be unless somebody asks for them before it is written. That somebody is you.
This is why the sheet below still exists in Thurston when it has come off other counties this week. Where a county supplies a form, the form does the work. Here there is nothing but a blank sheet and five requirements.
$9.97 · prepared for you, reviewed before you send it.
Prepare your What Your Doctor Needs to Write →Financial hardship (employed)A named ground — and it takes TWO letters
Thurston requires a letter from you and a letter from your employer on company letterhead stating its jury pay policy. Without the employer’s letter the request is incomplete.
Thurston County Superior Court — published Jury Service page. “Financial: Requires a letter from both you and your employer. Your employer’s letter must be on company letterhead, and it must state the pay policy while serving on a jury. Your attached letter must state the financial hardship that would be placed on you. You do not need to divulge financial information. You must include your Juror ID #, your full name, employer’s name and contact information, and your signature.”
Read what the two letters are each for. Your employer’s letter is not a character reference — it establishes one fact, whether you are paid while serving. Yours describes the consequence. Most requests that fail here fail because only one of the two arrived.
And note what you are told not to send. Elsewhere in this project the advice is that a specific figure over a specific number of days does more work than a general description. Thurston says the opposite: “you do not need to divulge financial information.” Describe what stops — the rent, the childcare, the shift you cannot make up — without opening your accounts. A county that has told you it does not need your figures has also told you it will not weigh them.
Read what the two letters are each for. Your employer’s letter is not a character reference — it establishes one fact, whether you are paid while serving. Yours describes the consequence. Most requests that fail here fail because only one of the two arrived.
And note what you are told not to send. Elsewhere in this project the advice is that a specific figure over a specific number of days does more work than a general description. Thurston says the opposite: “you do not need to divulge financial information.” Describe what stops — the rent, the childcare, the shift you cannot make up — without opening your accounts. A county that has told you it does not need your figures has also told you it will not weigh them.
$19.97 · prepared for you, reviewed before you send it.
Prepare your Hardship Letter →Financial hardship (self-employed)A named ground — bring the license, not the number
A separate named ground. Your letter stating the hardship, plus documentation of your business — the county asks for a copy of the business license, not just the license number.
Thurston County Superior Court — published Jury Service page. “Self-Employed: Please provide documentation of your business, such as a copy of your business license (not just the license number), along with your letter stating the financial hardship that would be placed on you. You do not need to give financial information.”
The parenthesis is the whole instruction. Not just the license number tells you what the office has been receiving and rejecting: a letter that recites a number the office would then have to go and look up. Send the document.
Beyond that, this is the more straightforward of Thurston’s two hardship routes, because everything is in your hands. There is no employer to chase and no letterhead to wait for.
And the same restraint applies as on the employed route: describe what stops, not what you earn. The county has said twice, in two places, that it does not want financial information.
The parenthesis is the whole instruction. Not just the license number tells you what the office has been receiving and rejecting: a letter that recites a number the office would then have to go and look up. Send the document.
Beyond that, this is the more straightforward of Thurston’s two hardship routes, because everything is in your hands. There is no employer to chase and no letterhead to wait for.
And the same restraint applies as on the employed route: describe what stops, not what you earn. The county has said twice, in two places, that it does not want financial information.
$19.97 · prepared for you, reviewed before you send it.
Prepare your Hardship Letter →Contact the court
Jury Administration, Thurston County Superior Court — 2000 Lakeridge Drive SW, Building #2, Olympia, WA 98502Jury line: (360) 754-4107
Email [email protected], fax (360) 754-4060. The office warns that email volume is high and replies may be delayed, and directs most questions to its published Jury Service page. Confirmation comes by mail — an advisory postcard, whether your request is granted or denied — so a stale address means you will not hear.
Email [email protected], fax (360) 754-4060. The office warns that email volume is high and replies may be delayed, and directs most questions to its published Jury Service page. Confirmation comes by mail — an advisory postcard, whether your request is granted or denied — so a stale address means you will not hear.
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JuryFree prepares documents and guidance from the facts you provide. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice or guarantee any outcome. Court rules and deadlines vary by county and change over time — confirm with the court before you rely on anything here. Questions: [email protected].