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CONNECTICUT LEGAL INFORMATION
Last Will and Testament Statutes
Connecticut Probate Code.
American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates
American Bar Association, Estate Planning
Selected Connecticut Statutes
- Who may make a will. Any person eighteen years of age or older, and of sound mind, may dispose of his estate by will.
Connecticut Code Section 45a-250.
- Execution and signature of will; witnesses. A will or codicil shall not be valid to pass any property unless it is in writing, subscribed by the testator and attested by two witnesses, each of them subscribing in the testator's presence; but any will executed according to the laws of the state or country where it was executed may be admitted to probate in this state and shall be effectual to pass any property of the testator situated in this state.
Connecticut Code Section 45a-251.
- Revocation of Will. Except as provided by sections 45a-257a to 45a-257d, inclusive, a will or codicil shall not be revoked in any other manner except by burning, cancelling, tearing or obliterating it by the testator or by some person in the testator's presence by the testator's direction, or by a later will or codicil.
Connecticut Code Section 45a-257.
- Failure of testator to provide for surviving spouse who married testator after execution of will. Determination of share of estate.
(a) If a testator fails to provide by will for the testator's surviving spouse who married the testator after the execution of the will, the surviving spouse shall receive the same share of the estate the surviving spouse would have received if the decedent left no will unless: (1) It appears from the will that the omission was intentional; or (2) the testator provided for the spouse by transfer outside the will and the intent that the transfer be in lieu of a testamentary provision is shown by the testator's statements, or is reasonably inferred from the amount of the transfer or other evidence.
(b) In satisfying a share provided in subsection (a) of this section, devises and legacies made by the will abate in accordance with section 45a-426.
(c) A surviving spouse receiving a share under this section may not elect to take a statutory share under section 45a-436.
Connecticut Code Section 45a-257a.
- Failure of testator to provide for children born or adopted after execution of will. Determination of share of estate.
- Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, if a testator fails to provide in the testator's will for any of the testator's children born or adopted after the execution of the will, including any child who is born as a result of artificial insemination to which the testator has consented in accordance with subsection (b) of section 45a-772, the omitted after-born or after- adopted child receives a share in the estate as follows:
(1) If the testator had no child living when the testator executed the will, an omitted after-born or after-adopted child receives a share in the estate equal in value to that which the child would have received had the testator died intestate, unless the will devised or bequeathed all or substantially all of the estate to the other parent of the omitted child and that other parent survives the testator and is entitled to take under the will.
(2) If the testator had one or more children living when the testator executed the will, and the will devised or bequeathed property or an interest in property to one or more of the then-living children, an omitted after-born or after-adopted child is entitled to share in the testator's estate as follows:
(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (E) of this subdivision, the portion of the testator's estate in which the omitted after-born or after-adopted child is entitled to share is limited to devises and legacies made to the testator's then-living children under the will.
(B) The omitted after-born or after-adopted child is entitled to receive the share of the testator's estate, as limited in subparagraph (A) of this subdivision, that the child would have received had the testator included all omitted after-born and after-adopted children with the children to whom devises and legacies were made under the will and had given an equal share of the estate to each child.
(C) To the extent feasible, the interest granted an omitted after-born or after-adopted child under this section must be of the same character, whether equitable or legal, present or future, as that devised or bequeathed to the testator's then-living children under the will.
(D) In satisfying a share provided by this subdivision, devises and legacies to the testator's children who were living when the will was executed abate ratably. In the abatement of the devises and legacies of the then-living children, to the maximum extent possible the character of the testamentary plan adopted by the testator shall be preserved.
(E) If it appears from the will that the intention of the testator was to make a limited provision which specifically applied only to the testator's living children at the time the will was executed, the after-born or after-adopted child succeeds to the portion of such testator's estate as would have passed to such child had the testator died intestate.
- The provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall not apply if:
(1) It appears from the will that the omission was intentional; or
(2) The testator provided for the omitted after-born or after-adopted child by transfer outside the will and the intent that the transfer be in lieu of a testamentary provision is shown by the testator's statements or is reasonably inferred from the amount of the transfer or other evidence.
- If at the time of execution of the will the testator fails to provide in the will for a living child solely because the testator believes the child to be dead, the child is entitled to share in the estate as if the child were an omitted after-born or after-adopted child.
- In satisfying a share provided in subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section, devises and legacies made by the will abate in accordance with section 45a-426.
Connecticut Code Section 45a-257b.
- Marriage of testator terminated after execution of will. Provisions of will re former spouse revoked. If, after executing a will, the testator's marriage is terminated by dissolution, divorce or annulment, the dissolution, divorce or annulment shall revoke any disposition or appointment of property made by the will to the former spouse, any provision conferring a general or special power of appointment on the former spouse, and any nomination of the former spouse as executor, trustee, conservator, guardian or other fiduciary, unless the will expressly provides otherwise. Property prevented from passing to a former spouse due to revocation by dissolution, divorce or annulment shall pass as if the former spouse failed to survive the testator, and other provisions conferring power or office on the former spouse shall be interpreted as if the spouse failed to survive the testator. If provisions of the will of the testator are revoked solely by this section, such provisions shall be revived by the testator's remarriage to the former spouse. A decree of separation which does not terminate the status of husband and wife is not a dissolution or divorce for the purposes of this section.
Connecticut Code Section 45a-257b.
- Devise or bequest to subscribing witness. Every devise or bequest given in any will or codicil to a subscribing witness, or to the husband or wife of such subscribing witness, shall be void unless such will or codicil is legally attested without the signature of such witness, or unless such devisee or legatee is an heir to the testator. The competency of such witness shall not be affected by any such devise or bequest. The interest of any witness in any community, church, society, association or corporation, beneficially interested in any devise or bequest, shall not affect such devise or bequest or the competency of such witness.
Connecticut Code Section 45a-258.
- Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act.
(a) A will may validly devise or bequeath property to the trustee or trustees of a trust established or to be established (1) during the testator's lifetime by the testator, by the testator and some other person or persons, or by some other person or persons including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, although the trustor has reserved any or all rights of ownership of the insurance contracts, or (2) at the testator's death by the testator's devise to the trustee or trustees if the trust is identified in the testator's will or codicil and its terms are set forth in a written instrument, other than a will or codicil, executed before, concurrently with, or after the execution of the testator's will or in another individual's will if that other individual has predeceased the testator, regardless of the existence, size, or character of the corpus of the trust. The devise or bequest shall not be invalid because the trust is amendable or revocable, or because the trust was amended after the execution of the will or after the testator's death.
(b) Unless the testator's will provides otherwise, property devised or bequeathed to a trust described in subsection (a) is not held under a testamentary trust of the testator but it becomes a part of the trust to which it is devised or bequeathed, and shall be administered and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the governing instrument setting forth the terms of the trust, including any amendments thereto made before or after the testator's death.
Connecticut Code Section 45a-260.
Library of Informational Legal Articles
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