diff --git a/wagtail/models/__init__.py b/wagtail/models/__init__.py
index 42a3905f47..99412ef6ea 100644
--- a/wagtail/models/__init__.py
+++ b/wagtail/models/__init__.py
@@ -905,6 +905,21 @@ class WorkflowMixin:
         """Returns the active workflow assigned to the object."""
         return self.get_default_workflow()
 
+    @property
+    def workflow_states(self):
+        """
+        Returns workflow states that belong to the object.
+
+        To allow filtering ``WorkflowState`` queries by the object,
+        subclasses should define a
+        :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.fields.GenericRelation` to
+        :class:`~wagtail.models.WorkflowState` with the desired
+        ``related_query_name``. This property can be replaced with the
+        ``GenericRelation`` or overridden to allow custom logic, which can be
+        useful if the model has inheritance.
+        """
+        return WorkflowState.objects.for_instance(self)
+
     @property
     def workflow_in_progress(self):
         """Returns True if a workflow is in progress on the current object, otherwise False."""
@@ -919,11 +934,9 @@ class WorkflowMixin:
                     return True
             return False
 
-        return (
-            WorkflowState.objects.for_instance(self)
-            .filter(status=WorkflowState.STATUS_IN_PROGRESS)
-            .exists()
-        )
+        return self.workflow_states.filter(
+            status=WorkflowState.STATUS_IN_PROGRESS
+        ).exists()
 
     @property
     def current_workflow_state(self):
@@ -940,8 +953,7 @@ class WorkflowMixin:
                 return
 
         return (
-            WorkflowState.objects.for_instance(self)
-            .active()
+            self.workflow_states.active()
             .select_related("current_task_state__task")
             .first()
         )
@@ -1074,7 +1086,11 @@ class Page(AbstractPage, index.Indexed, ClusterableModel, metaclass=PageBase):
 
     _revisions = GenericRelation("wagtailcore.Revision", related_query_name="page")
 
-    workflow_states = GenericRelation(
+    # Add GenericRelation to allow WorkflowState.objects.filter(page=...) queries.
+    # There is no need to override the workflow_states property, as the default
+    # implementation in WorkflowMixin already ensures that the queryset uses the
+    # base Page content type.
+    _workflow_states = GenericRelation(
         "wagtailcore.WorkflowState",
         content_type_field="base_content_type",
         object_id_field="object_id",
diff --git a/wagtail/query.py b/wagtail/query.py
index d3ecff938c..bcce4aa2f0 100644
--- a/wagtail/query.py
+++ b/wagtail/query.py
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ class PageQuerySet(SearchableQuerySetMixin, TreeQuerySet):
 
         return self.prefetch_related(
             Prefetch(
-                "workflow_states",
+                "_workflow_states",
                 queryset=workflow_states,
                 to_attr="_current_workflow_states",
             )