What is a Holographic Will?
Many States Allow Handwritten Unwitnessed Wills
What is required for a valid, enforceable last will and testament is a creature of state law. All states prescribe the age at which a person is old enough to make out a will. All states describe the requirements for formalizing a will as an enforceable document.
The person who writes the will is called a testator. Because the purpose of a will is to pass on property according to the testator’s wishes after the testator’s death, and those wishes can be subject to controversy among surviving heirs, the law has developed formalities as safeguards to ensure that the will is a lawfully executed document.
Formally structured wills require at least two witnesses, usually persons not related to the testator or not obtaining a benefit under the will; some states may require more. This means preparing the will and then getting in the right kind of witnesses to attest to the testator’s signature by signing their own names on the will.
Observing all the formalities is not always the easiest situation, though. Wills have been prepared in a variety of places where stopping or waiting for witnesses and putting the will away are not easy, such as battlefields, deathbeds, solitary trips. Also, some people are very private and do not wish to have witnesses involved in their business even tangentially. In such circumstances, a holographic will, where the law allows, is a convenient device.
Holographic Will
A holographic will is one that the testator writes out in his or her own handwriting and signs. It is not a holographic will if the testator types the will, prints the will, or speaks the will electronically. It must be handwritten. What makes it unique is that it does not have to be witnessed, so long as the testator has written it out in his or her own hand and signed it.
A will also does not have to be written on standard paper, though it is the recommended approach. Over the years, wills have been written on a variety of substances. Leo Tolstoy, the Russian author of War and Peace, is said to have written his last will and testament on a tree stump.
One famous holographic will was written under emergency circumstances by a Canadian farmer in Saskatchewan in 1948. In a solitary accident, Cecil George Harris was trapped under his tractor wheel for 10 hours. During that time he carved his will into the tractor's fender with his pocket knife, stating, "In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo. Harris."
Though his neighbors found him alive, Mr. Harris died two days later. The fender was taken from his tractor and filed with the probate court, which accepted it. The fender and Mr. Harris’ knife were exhibited in the courthouse for several years afterward, and are now displayed in the law library at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law.
U.S. States That Recognize Holographic Wills
The following states of the U.S. recognize some form of holographic will. Some of these states only allow holographic wills in certain circumstances while others treat them on equal status with formally witnessed wills.
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Remember, laws change. Check with legal counsel before assuming a holographic will is (or remains) enforceable in your state and to what extent it may be recognized.
Reference: Lawchek.com
Holographic Will is in Your Own Handwriting
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