Redmond Office Law Blog

A handwritten Will can be valid if it is properly executed. Although this seems fairly straight forward and tempting as an inexpensive form of estate planning, think again. Inevitably, there is always a family member that will question the authenticity of the document. They will make claims that this is not in your handwriting, but that it was written by someone else that exercised undue influence over you.

Additionally, I have found that most handwritten, unwitnessed Wills are done in the “eleventh hour”. Which means that they are typically created on someone’s death bed or in a less than mentally healthy environment. This last minute, death bed writing or declaration is often questioned by family members on the basis of lack of capacity or competency. If a family member contests the validity of the handwritten Will, the estate will end up paying more in probate costs and attorney fees to defend the validity of the handwritten Will.

Proper estate planning is intended to make the distribution of your assets at death as simple as possible. Creating your own handwritten will, or worse yet doing nothing at all, can create unexpected problems. Ultimately, the cost of doing an estate plan with a qualified attorney will cost you less than if you had done a handwritten Will or nothing at all.