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NORTH DAKOTA LEGAL INFORMATION
Last Will and Testament Statutes
Link to the North Dakota Statutes online which contain the portion of the Probate Code dealing with last wills.
Last Will information from the North Dakota Bar Association
American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates
American Bar Association, Estate Planning
Selected North Dakota Statutes
- 30.1-08-01. (2-501) Who may make a will. Any adult who is of sound mind may make a will.
- 30.1-08-02. (2-502) Execution - Witnessed wills - Holographic wills.
1. Except as provided in subsection 2 and in sections 30.1-08-06 and 30.1-08-13, a will must be: a. In writing. b. Signed by the testator or in the testator’s name by some other individual in the testator’s conscious presence and by the testator’s direction. c. Signed by at least two individuals, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after witnessing either the signing of the will as described in subdivision b or the testator’s acknowledgment of that signature or acknowledgment of the will.
2. A will that does not comply with subsection 1 is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator’s handwriting.
3. Intent that the document constitute the testator’s will can be established by extrinsic evidence, including, for holographic wills, portions of the document that are not in the testator’s handwriting.
- 30.1-08-04. (2-504) Self-proved will.
1. A will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which execution occurs and evidenced by the officer’s certificate, under official seal, attached or annexed to the will in substantially the following form:
THE STATE OF _________________
COUNTY OF ____________________
I, ______________________, the testator, sign my name to this instrument this __________ day of ______, _____, and being first sworn, declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my will and that I sign it willingly or willingly direct another to sign for me, that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that I am eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.
______________________________
Testator
We, _________________, __________________, the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument, and being first sworn, declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as the testator’s will and that the testator signs it willingly or willingly directs another to sign for the testator, and that each of us, in the presence and hearing of the testator, signs this will as witness to the testator’s signing, and that to the best of our knowledge the testator is eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.
______________________________
Witness
______________________________
Witness
Subscribed, sworn to, and acknowledged before me by __________, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before me by _________, and _________, witness, this ________ day of ________________.
(SEAL)
______________________________ (Signed)
______________________________ (Official capacity of officer)
- 30.1-08-05. (2-505) Who may witness.
1. Any person generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will.
2. A will or any provision thereof is not invalid because the will is signed by an interested witness.
- 30.1-08-06. (2-506) Choice of law as to execution. A written will is valid if executed in compliance with section 30.1-08-02 or if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the place where the will is executed, or of the law of the place where at the time of execution or at the time of death the testator is domiciled, has a place of abode, or is a national.
- 30.1-08-07. (2-507) Revocation by writing or by act.
1. A will or any part thereof is revoked: a. By executing a subsequent will that revokes the previous will or part expressly or by inconsistency; or b. By performing a revocatory act on the will, if the testator performed the act with the intent and for the purpose of revoking the will or part or if another individual performed the act in the testator’s conscious presence and by the testator’s direction. For purposes of this subdivision, "revocatory act on the will" includes burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying the will or any part of it. A burning, tearing, or canceling is a "revocatory act on the will", whether or not the burn, tear, or cancellation touched any of the words on the will.
2. If a subsequent will does not expressly revoke a previous will, the execution of the subsequent will wholly revokes the previous will by inconsistency if the testator intended the subsequent will to replace rather than supplement the previous will.
3. The testator is presumed to have intended a subsequent will to replace rather than supplement a previous will if the subsequent will makes a complete disposition of the testator’s estate. If this presumption arises and is not rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, the previous will is revoked; only the subsequent will is operative on the testator’s death.
4. The testator is presumed to have intended a subsequent will to supplement rather than replace a previous will if the subsequent will does not make a complete disposition of the testator’s estate. If this presumption arises and is not rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, the subsequent will revokes the previous will only to the extent the subsequent will is inconsistent with the previous will; each will is fully operative on the testator’s death to the extent they are not inconsistent.
- 30.1-08-10. (2-510) Incorporation by reference. Any writing in existence when a will is executed may be incorporated by reference if the language of the will manifests this intent and describes the writing sufficiently to permit its identification.
Library of Informational Legal Articles
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