Arizona's Requirements for a Will

Summary of Arizona's Will Requirements:


	Minimum Age to Make a Will	18
	Written Document Required	Yes
	Nuncupative Wills (Oral)	No
	Holographic Wills (Hand-Written, Unwitnessed)	Yes
	Number of Witnesses Required	2
	Self-Proving Affidavit	Allowed
	Statutory Form for Self-Proving Affidavit	Yes

Statutes Governing Arizona's Will Requirements:

Who May Make Will

A person who is eighteen years of age or older and who is of sound mind may make a will.

Arizona Requirements for a Will - RS, Section 14-2501

Execution; Witnessed Wills; Holographic Wills

A. Except as provided in sections 14-2503, 14-2506 and 14-2513, a will shall be:

1. In writing.

2. Signed by the testator or in the testator's name by some other individual in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction.

3. Signed by at least two people, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after that person witnessed either the signing of the will as described in paragraph 2 or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature or acknowledgment of the will.

B. Intent that the document constitute the testator's will can be established by extrinsic evidence, including, for holographic wills under section 14-2503, portions of the document that are not in the testator's handwriting.

Arizona Requirements for a Will - RS, Section 14-2502

Holographic Will

A will that does not comply with section 14-2502 is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and the material provisions are in the handwriting of the testator.

Arizona Requirements for a Will - RS, Section 14-2503

Self-proved wills; sample form; signature requirements

A. A will may be simultaneously executed, attested and made self-proved by its acknowledgment by the testator and by affidavits of the witnesses if the acknowledgment and affidavits are made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which execution occurs and are evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, in substantially the following form:

I, _______________, the testator, sign my name to this instrument this _____ day of _______________, and being first duly sworn, do declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my will and that I sign it willingly, or willingly direct another to sign for me, that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes expressed in that document and that I am eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence.

_________________________
Testator

We, _______________, _______________, the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument being first duly sworn and do declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as his/her will and that he/she signs it willingly, or willingly directs another to sign for him/her, and that each of us, in the presence and hearing of the testator, signs this will as witness to the testator's signing and that to the best of our knowledge the testator is eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence.

_________________________
Witness

The State of ______________

County of _________________

Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by _______________, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before me by _______________ and _______________, witnesses, this _____ day of _______________.

(Seal)

(Signed)___________________

__________________________
(Official capacity of officer)

B. An attested will may be made self-proved at any time after its execution by its acknowledgment by the testator and the affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which the acknowledgment occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under the official seal, attached or annexed to the will in substantially the following form:

The State of _______________

County of _________________

We, _____________________, __________________ and _______________, the testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument being first duly sworn do declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signed and executed the instrument as the testator's will and that he/she signed willingly, or willingly directed another to sign for him/her, and that he/she executed it as his/her free and voluntary act for the purposes expressed in that document, and that each of the witnesses, in the presence and hearing of the testator, signed the will as witness and that to the best of his/her knowledge the testator was at that time eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence.

_________________________
Testator

_________________________
Witness

(Seal)

(Signed)___________________

__________________________

(Official capacity of officer)

C. A signature affixed to a self-proving affidavit attached to a will is considered a signature affixed to the will, if necessary to prove the will's due execution.

Arizona Requirements for a Will - RS, Section 14-2504

Witnesses; requirements

A. A person who is generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will.

B. The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it.

Arizona Requirements for a Will - RS, Section 14-2505

Execution; choice of law

A written will is valid if executed in compliance with section 14-2502 or if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the place where the will is executed, or of the law of the place where at the time of execution or at the time of death the testator is domiciled, has a place of abode or is a national.

Arizona Requirements for a Will - RS, Section 14-2506

[Reference - Arizona Requirements for a Will]