Wills Lawyer in Boston

Basic Requirements for a Valid Will in Massachusetts

Before you start drafting your will or updating an existing one, you should be familiar with the laws governing wills in Boston. Many people don’t realize that will requirements can vary substantially from state to state. If you drafted your will prior to moving to Massachusetts, it’s a good idea to verify that your will is still valid under the state’s will laws.

If you die without a valid will or if your will is later declared invalid, your assets will be distributed in accordance with the state’s intestacy rules. These rules can be complex, but in Massachusetts, they primarily favor the surviving spouse and children.

These are the key requirements for a valid will in Massachusetts:

The Will Must Be Written and Signed

For a will to be valid, it must be printed or typed. Except in very rare situations (like in the case of a deployed member of the military), oral or spoken wills are not legally valid. Likewise, if you videotape yourself explaining how you want your personal property to be distributed after your death, that video is not a legally valid will.

To be valid, the will must be signed by the testator (the person making the will). If the testator is unable to sign it themselves, they may direct another person to sign it on their behalf.

A Transfer Must Be Specified

Massachusetts requires wills to make it clear that a person’s estate is being transferred to heirs. For example, if your will merely includes a list of assets and a list of names beside them, a court might invalidate the will.

There Must Be Two Witnesses

Many people mistakenly believe that a will must be notarized to be legally valid. This is true in some areas, but in Massachusetts, the testator’s signature must simply be witnessed by two separate people. Alternatively, if the two witnesses didn’t physically observe the testator sign the will, they must have heard the testator acknowledge that the will existed.

Even though notarization isn’t a legal requirement in the state, it’s still a simple and effective way to prove that the will was signed in the presence of at least two witnesses.

The Testator Must Be of Sound Mind

Legal wills must be created during a time in which the testator was of sound mind. The phrase “of sound mind” can mean different things to different people. But in the context of creating a will in Massachusetts, it means being able to answer “yes” to the following questions:

• Does the testator have a clear and accurate idea of what their estate includes at the time the will was written?
• Do they understand that the will leads to the distribution of the estate’s property?
• Do they know which beneficiaries they will be distributing their property to?

Any attorney who has worked in elder law can tell you that many wills are contested because someone believes the testator wasn’t of sound mind. When you work with an attorney, your lawyer can verify that you meet the general requirements to be considered competent under the law.

The Testator Must Not Be the Victim of Undue Influence

“Undue influence” is a concept that is related to mental soundness. If a person’s last will is otherwise legally valid, it may still be invalidated if a probate court finds that the testator was the victim of undue influence.

Undue influence happens when someone is manipulated, coerced, threatened, or otherwise pushed to act in a specific way. For example, if an adult child isolates a parent and convinces them to alter their will, a court might determine that the parent was under undue influence and that the will is therefore invalid.