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.
New York allows a handwritten will only for soldiers in a conflict and mariners at sea. For everyone else the ordinary formalities are the only route.
Except for the narrow nuncupative and holographic cases, every New York will must be in writing, signed at the end by the testator, or signed in the testator's name by another person in their presence and at their direction, and attested by witnesses in the manner the statute sets out. Sign at the end matters: anything appearing after your signature may not be given effect.
N.Y. EPTL § 3-2.1
No. EPTL 3-2.1 requires attesting witnesses, not a notary, and notarizing a New York will does not make it valid. A notary features only in a separate self-proving affidavit, which spares your witnesses from testifying later but does not replace them.
N.Y. EPTL § 3-2.1
Effectively no. New York recognises a handwritten or spoken will only when it is made by a member of the armed forces while in actual military or naval service during a war or other armed conflict, or by a mariner while at sea. For everyone else a handwritten will that was not properly witnessed is not a will in New York.
N.Y. EPTL § 3-2.2
A beneficiary can witness a New York will and remains a competent, compellable witness, but the gift to them is void unless, at the time of execution, there were at least two other attesting witnesses who receive nothing under the will. A witness who would have inherited under intestacy may still keep up to that intestate share. Use two witnesses who inherit nothing and none of this arises.
N.Y. EPTL § 3-3.2
Every person eighteen years of age or over, of sound mind and memory, may dispose of property by will in New York.
N.Y. EPTL § 3-1.1
N.Y. EPTL § 3-2.1 (Execution and attestation of wills; formal requirements). In writing, signed at the end by the testator (or in their name by another in their presence and at their direction), declared to each attesting witness to be the testator's will, with at least two attesting witnesses signing within one thirty-day period.
Links last checked 2026-08-24.
This is general information about the law, not legal advice, and it has not been reviewed by an attorney licensed in New York. Requirements change. Confirm the current rules for your state before you sign.
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