What Makes a Will Valid in Texas

A typed or printed Texas will is valid if it is in writing, signed by the person making it, and signed by two witnesses who are at least 14 years old, all under Estates Code section 251.051. It does not have to be notarized. A will written entirely in the maker's own handwriting does not even need witnesses. The notary enters only for an optional extra page, the self-proving affidavit, which makes the will easier to prove after death.

Who can make a will in Texas

Capacity is the starting point. Under section 251.001, a person of sound mind may make a will if, at the moment of signing, the person is 18 or older, is married or has been married, or is serving in the United States armed forces, an auxiliary of the armed forces, or the United States Maritime Service. A married 17-year-old qualifies; an unmarried 17-year-old civilian does not. What counts as sound mind is not defined in chapter 251, and whether a particular person had it on a particular day is a factual question a court decides when someone challenges the will.

The reach of a will is broad. Section 251.002 lets the maker, called the testator, leave everything the testator owns at death, subject to limits set elsewhere in the law. The same section expressly allows a will to disinherit an heir, so a child or other relative who would inherit with no will can be left out on purpose.

The three formal requirements for a witnessed will

Section 251.051 opens with the words "except as otherwise provided by law" and then lists three requirements. Each is short, and each has a detail that matters.

It must be in writing

An oral statement of wishes, however clearly made, does not meet this section. The statute does not define writing further, though section 251.052 confirms that a handwritten paper can qualify. Chapter 251, as currently published, contains no provision addressing wills that exist only in electronic form, so this guide does not treat that question.

It must be signed by the testator

The testator can sign personally. If the testator cannot, section 251.051(2) lets another person sign the testator's name, but only in the testator's presence and under the testator's direction. A signature added later, or outside the room, does not meet the text.

It must be signed by two witnesses

Section 251.051(3) requires two or more credible witnesses who are at least 14 years old. Each witness must sign in the witness's own handwriting and must do so in the testator's presence. The section says nothing about the witnesses reading the will or knowing its contents.

Using a beneficiary as a witness carries a specific risk under section 254.002. If a person who receives a gift under the will is also a subscribing witness, and the will cannot be proved some other way, the gift to that witness is void. Two softening rules follow. A witness who would have inherited anyway with no will keeps that intestate share, capped at the value of the gift. And the gift stands if at least one disinterested, credible person corroborates the witness's testimony about the will.

Does a will need to be notarized in Texas?

No. Nothing in section 251.051 mentions a notary, and a will that meets its three requirements is valid without one. The confusion comes from the self-proving affidavit described below, which must be sworn before "an officer authorized to administer oaths" under section 251.104(b), who must also affix an official seal. That affidavit is optional. Skipping it does not make the will invalid; it means the will needs more proof when it is offered for probate.

Handwritten (holographic) wills

Texas recognizes a will written by hand. Section 251.052 says a will written wholly in the testator's handwriting does not need attesting witnesses. It still has to be a signed writing, because the exception lifts only the witness requirement of section 251.051.

The key word is wholly. The exception is written for a document entirely in the testator's hand. Whether a document that mixes handwriting with printed or typed text can qualify depends on the document and on how a court reads it, so a fill-in-the-blank form completed by hand is the kind of paper where outcomes can turn on details.

Proof after death works differently from a witnessed will. Under section 256.154(a), a handwritten will that is not self-proved may be proved by two witnesses to the testator's handwriting, meaning people who can identify the writing as the testator's. They testify or give an affidavit in open court, or give a deposition if they live outside the county or cannot attend. To spare the family that step, section 251.107 lets the testator attach an affidavit at any time during life stating that the paper is the testator's will, that the testator met the age or status rule, was of sound mind, and has not revoked it. The section describes an affidavit by the testator, with no witness signatures called for.

The self-proving affidavit

A self-proved will is one with a sworn self-proving affidavit attached, or one signed using the combined procedure in section 251.1045, as section 251.101 defines it. The payoff is in section 251.102(a): a self-proved will can be admitted to probate without testimony from any subscribing witness. In every other respect, section 251.102(b) says, it is treated the same as any other will. Self-proving does not shield a will from challenge, and section 251.106 confirms it can be contested, revoked, or amended by codicil in the same manner as a will without the affidavit.

1. The will is signed and witnessed

   The will first has to meet section 251.051. Under section 251.103, it can be made self-proved at that signing or at any later date while the testator and both witnesses are still alive.

2. Everyone appears before an officer

   Section 251.104(b) requires the testator and the attesting witnesses to make the affidavit before an officer authorized to administer oaths. The officer swears them and affixes an official seal.

3. The affidavit follows the statutory form

   Section 251.104(e) prints the form. In it, the testator declares the paper to be the testator's will, signed willingly; the witnesses state that they signed in the testator's presence and at the testator's request, that the testator met the age or status rule and was of sound mind, and that each witness was at least fourteen. Under section 251.104(d), substantial compliance with the form is enough.

4. The affidavit is attached to the will

   Section 251.104(c) requires it to be attached or annexed to the will, so the two papers travel together.

An alternative skips the separate affidavit. Section 251.1045 lets a will be executed, witnessed, and made self-proved in one sitting before the officer, using sworn language built into the will itself, with the testator, both witnesses, and the officer present at the same time. A will substantially following that form is self-proved.

One trap is worth knowing. If the testator or a witness signed only the affidavit and not the will, section 251.105 lets the affidavit signature count as a signature on the will when that is needed to prove the will was signed. The cost is that the will is then not treated as self-proved, so the witness testimony the affidavit was meant to avoid comes back into play.

Wills signed in another state or country

Moving to Texas does not by itself undo a will. Section 251.053 says a written will need not meet section 251.051 if it was executed in compliance with the law of the place where it was signed, as that law stood at signing, or the law of the place where the testator was domiciled or had a residence, as that law stood at signing or at death. This section was last amended in 2023. Under section 256.152(b), a will self-proved under the law of one of those places also needs no extra proof of execution in a Texas probate court.

Changing or revoking a will

Section 253.002 allows only two routes to revoke a written will or any clause in it. The first is a later will, codicil, or written declaration executed with like formalities, the same kind of execution a will itself requires. The second is physical: the testator destroys or cancels the will, or has someone else do it in the testator's presence. Because the section reaches a single clause as well as the whole will, markings on part of a document can raise questions, and their effect can end up disputed in court.

Courts cannot freeze a will in place. Section 253.001 bars a court from prohibiting a person from making a new will, adding a codicil, or revoking a will, in whole or in part, and makes any order that tries to do so void to that extent.

What divorce does to an existing will

Texas law rewrites a will when the marriage ends. Under section 123.001(b), if the testator's marriage is dissolved by divorce, annulment, or a declaration that it is void after the will was made, then unless the will expressly provides otherwise, it is read as if the former spouse had failed to survive the testator. The same treatment reaches each relative of the former spouse who is not also related to the testator. It covers fiduciary roles too, so an ex-spouse named as executor drops out. Gifts in the will to certain irrevocable trusts are rewritten to cut out the same people, unless a court order or a marital property agreement says otherwise. Section 123.002 adds that a divorced person is not a surviving spouse unless the two remarried and were married at death.

How a will is proved after death

Validity is tested when someone offers the will for probate, not before. Under section 256.001, a will does not prove title to property until a court admits it, and section 256.002 makes probate of a living person's will void. The applicant must show the court that the will was not revoked. If the will is not self-proved, section 256.152(a) also requires proof that it was signed with the required formalities by a testator who was of sound mind and met the age or status rule.

For a witnessed will without the affidavit, section 256.153 allows proof through sworn testimony or an affidavit of one or more of the witnesses in open court. If the witnesses live outside the county, cannot attend, have died, or are serving in the military beyond the court's reach, the section provides fallbacks: depositions, or testimony from people who can identify the handwriting of a witness or of the testator.

A missing original is harder. Section 256.156 requires the same proof as for a will produced in court, plus proof of why the original cannot be produced with reasonable diligence and testimony from a credible witness establishing its contents. Under subsection (c), a copy of the will that includes a copy of a qualifying self-proving affidavit is enough to make the will self-proved. Section 256.156 was amended by two bills in 2025, effective September 1, 2025.

Timing limits apply on both sides. Section 256.003(a) generally bars admitting a will once four years have passed since the death, unless the applicant shows the delay was not the applicant's default. Once a will is admitted, section 256.204 gives an interested person two years to contest it, or two years from discovering forgery or fraud. The steps from filing to closing an estate are covered in the Texas probate process.

When there is no valid will

A paper that fails these requirements, or a will revoked with nothing to replace it, leaves the estate to pass under the intestacy statutes, which set fixed shares for a spouse, children, and other relatives. That framework is explained in dying without a will in Texas. Whether a specific document meets the Estates Code is often a question of facts that only a court can settle, and free and low-cost legal help in Texas lists places to look for a lawyer when cost is a concern. Every section cited here links to the official text, the standard Texas Legal Answers applies on each page, and related guides are collected in the Texas probate and inheritance section, which also covers powers of attorney.