Get Az Cca-0218a 2019-2025

Holographic wills, also called handwritten wills, are accepted in Texas. To be valid, a holographic will must be written entirely in your handwriting and signed by you. As long as you follow these two requirements, you don't need witnesses to make your holographic will valid.

Every state has statutory requirements dictating what makes a Will valid. Texas is no different. For a Will to be valid in Texas, the person making the Will (the testator) must have legal capacity, testamentary capacity, and testamentary intent. Additionally, the testator must follow specific formalities.

In Texas, to execute a valid will, the law requires that the testator (the person for whom the will applies) be at least 18 years old and of sound mind (full mental capacity). Also, the state requires at least two credible witnesses.

Texas recognizes two types of written Wills. A holographic Will is a handwritten Will. To be valid, you must write the Will completely in your own handwriting and sign it. There is no requirement that witnesses or a notary sign the document.

In order to make a valid handwritten will in Texas, the entire document must be in your own handwriting. No one can write any part of it except for you, and no part of it can be typed. You can write in cursive or print, but the entire will must be in your handwriting only.

In Texas, a will must first be proved in court within four years after the death of the testator; if this does not happen, the will does not enter probate and the testator's property is distributed through Texas's laws of intestacy, discussed further below.

The law simply requires that the document be entirely in the deceased's handwriting and signed. No date is required, but one should be included. A holographic will may be made self-proving either at the time it is signed or any time thereafter before the maker (testator) dies.