Knowledge & Resources
Wills and estate planning
What a will does, how to write one, and what your state requires for it to count.
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Wills and estate planning
What a will does, how to write one, and what your state requires for it to count.
Mississippi accepts a will written wholly in your own hand without witnesses, and voids a gift to a witness only where the will cannot be proved any other way.
A Mississippi will must be signed by the testator, or by someone else in the testator's presence and at their express direction. If it is not wholly written and subscribed by the testator, it must then be attested by two or more credible witnesses in the testator's presence. A wholly handwritten will needs no witnesses; anything else does.
Miss. Code § 91-5-1
No. Section 91-5-1 requires two credible witnesses for a will that is not wholly handwritten, not a notary, and notarizing a Mississippi will does not substitute for them.
Miss. Code § 91-5-1
Yes. Mississippi handles it inside its main execution statute rather than separately: a will that is wholly written and subscribed by the testator does not need the attesting witnesses that any other will requires. Wholly is the operative word.
Miss. Code § 91-5-1
Narrower than most states. If a subscribing witness is left a gift, that gift is void only where the will cannot otherwise be proven. The witness stays competent as to the rest of the will and can be compelled to testify. A witness who would have inherited under intestacy keeps up to that share. Mississippi also says plainly that a creditor is a competent witness, though a special provision in the creditor's favour is treated the same way.
Miss. Code §§ 91-5-9, 91-5-13
Every person eighteen years of age or older, of sound and disposing mind, may make a will in Mississippi.
Miss. Code § 91-5-1
Miss. Code § 91-5-1 (Who may execute; signature; attestation). Signed by the testator (or by another in their presence and at their express direction). If not wholly written and subscribed by the testator, it must be attested by two or more credible witnesses in the presence of the testator.
Links last checked 2026-08-25.
We could not read this statute at its official source, so the summary above is provisional. Confirm it before relying on it.
This is general information about the law, not legal advice, and it has not been reviewed by an attorney licensed in Mississippi. Requirements change. Confirm the current rules for your state before you sign.
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