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CALIFORNIA LEGAL INFORMATION
Last Will and Testament Statutes
Link to the California Statutes online, See Sections 6100 through 6455 which are the Probate Code provisions related to Last Wills.
Questions and Answers about the California Statutory Will
Copy of California Statutory Will
Information from the California Bar Association about Last Wills
American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates
American Bar Association, Estate Planning
Selected California Statutes
- Who may make a Will. An individual 18 or more years of age who is of sound
mind may make a will. California Probate Code Section 6100.
- What property may be disposed of in a Will. A will may dispose of the following property:
(a) The testator's separate property.
(b) The one-half of the community property that belongs to the testator under Section 100.
(c) The one-half of the testator's quasi-community property that belongs to the testator under Section 101.
California Probate Code Section 6101. Note: California is a community property state and a last will of a California resident may not attempt to dispose of property belowing to the testator's spouse under community property law.
- Execution and signature of Will.
- Except as provided in this part, a will shall be in writing and satisfy the requirements of this section.
- The will shall be signed by one of the following:
(1) By the testator.
(2) In the testator's name by some other person in the testator's presence and by the testator's direction.
(3) By a conservator pursuant to a court order to make a will under Section 2580.
- The will shall be witnessed by being signed by at least two persons each of whom (1) being present at the same time, witnessed either the signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature or of the will and (2) understand that the instrument they sign is the testator's will.
California Probate Code Section 6110.
- Witnesses to a Will.
- Any person generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will.
- A will or any provision thereof is not invalid because the will is signed by an interested witness.
- Unless there are at least two other subscribing witnesses to the will who are disinterested witnesses, the fact that the will makes a devise to a subscribing witness creates a presumption that the witness procured the devise by duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence. This presumption is a presumption affecting the burden of proof. This presumption does not apply where the witness is a person to whom the devise is made solely in a fiduciary capacity.
- If a devise made by the will to an interested witness fails because the presumption established by subdivision (c) applies to the devise and the witness fails to rebut the presumption, the interested witness shall take such proportion of the devise made to the witness in the will as does not exceed the share of the estate which would be distributed to the witness if the will were not established. Nothing in this subdivision affects the law that applies where it is established that the witness procured a devise by duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence.
California Probate Code Section 6112.
- Revocation of Will. A will or any part thereof is revoked by any of the following:
(a) A subsequent will which revokes the prior will or part expressly or by inconsistency.
(b) Being burned, torn, canceled, obliterated, or destroyed, with the intent and for the purpose of revoking it, by either (1) the testator or (2) another person in the testator's presence and by the testator's direction. California Probate Code Section 6120.
- Revocation by divorce or annulment.
(a) Unless the will expressly provides otherwise, if after executing a will the testator's marriage is dissolved or annulled, the dissolution or annulment revokes all of the following:
- Any disposition or appointment of property made by the will to the former spouse.
- Any provision of the will conferring a general or special power of appointment on the former spouse.
- Any provision of the will nominating the former spouse as executor, trustee, conservator, or guardian.
California Probate Code Section 6122.
- Testamentary additions to trusts. A devise or bequest, the validity of which is determinable by the law of this state, may be made by a will to the trustee of a trust established or to be established by the testator and some other person or by some other person (including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, although the trustor has reserved any or all rights of ownership of the insurance contracts) if the trust is identified in the testator's will and its terms are set forth in a written instrument (other than a will) executed before or concurrently with the execution of the testator's will or in the valid last will of a person who has predeceased the testator. California Probate Code Section 6300.
Library of Informational Legal Articles
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