Virginia Will – Creating a Valid Will In Virginia

If you are an adult in the state of Virginia, you need to consider having an estate planning lawyer draft your will. A Virginia will must comply with specific requirements to have legal effect. If you try to write your own last will and testament and fail to follow the proper requirements, it could be simply brushed aside by the Virginia legal system. Since everyone wants to have a valid Virginia will, here are the key requirements to follow.

As we get started, note that there are lots of different types of wills. This article is just focusing on Virginia simple wills. However, even that term is misleading. Very few estates are actually simple; that’s why hiring a Virginia will lawyer is important to protect your family.

Virginia doesn’t prescribe a specific form or format to have a valid legal will. But there are certain formalities that must be met. These are the key Virginia will requirements.

Non-hand-written will

If your will is not in your own handwriting, it must meet these statutory formalities:

1. In writing
2. Signed by the testator (the person whose will it is)
3. Signed in the presence of two witnesses
4. Signed by the witnesses in the presence of each other and the testator

Hand-written will

A Virginia will can be hand-written (also known as a “holographic will”). But it must be written entirely in your own handwriting. And upon your death, two witnesses would have to testify that the handwriting is indeed yours. You still have to sign the will, even if written entirely by your hand.

Virginia will code

This is just a summary of some of the key requirements for Virginia wills. Virginia Code § 64.1-49 specifies them:

No will shall be valid unless it be in writing and signed by the testator, or by some other person in his presence and by his direction, in such manner as to make it manifest that the name is intended as a signature; and moreover, unless it be wholly in the handwriting of the testator, the signature shall be made or the will acknowledged by him in the presence of at least two competent witnesses, present at the same time; and such witnesses shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator, but no form of attestation shall be necessary. If the will be wholly in the handwriting of the testator that fact shall be proved by at least two disinterested witnesses.

Testamentary capacity

In order to execute a valid Virginia will, you must be at least 18-years-old. In addition, you must have “testamentary capacity.” That’s a legal term that simply means you have to know what you are doing in the will. It most cases this isn’t an issue. You basically have to know these things:

• The extent of your property
• Your natural beneficiaries
• The disposition your will is making

Virginia will law doesn’t require that you know all of your property or the precise value of your estate. You just need a general understanding.

Now you know the basics of creating a will in Virginia. But please remember that this is a complex area of Virginia law, and you should consult an estate planning lawyer to help with your will.

Photo by shoebappa. Downtown Norfolk, Virginia.