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RHODE ISLAND LEGAL INFORMATION
Last Will and Testament Statutes
Link to the Rhode Island Statutes online which contain the portion of the Probate Code dealing with execution of last wills; Additinal Rhode Island Statutes from Probate Code.
Probate Law and Last Will information from the Rhode Island Bar Association
American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates
American Bar Association, Estate Planning
Selected Rhode Island Statutes
- § 33-5-2 Testamentary capacity – Property subject to will. – Every person of sane mind and eighteen (18) years or older in age, may devise, bequeath, or dispose of, by his or her will, executed in the manner required by this chapter, all real estate and all personal estate, which he or she shall be entitled to either at law or in equity at the time of his or her death and which, if not so devised, bequeathed or disposed of, would devolve upon the heir at law, or upon his or her executor or administrator, but not including an estate tail. The power hereby given shall extend to all real estate, including all estate per autre vie, and all estates, whether they shall be freehold or of any other tenure, and all estates, whether they shall be corporeal or incorporeal hereditaments, and also to all contingent, executor, or other future interests, in any real or personal estate, whether the testator may or may not be ascertained as the person or one of the persons in whom the estates respectively may become vested, and whether he or she may become entitled thereto under the instrument by which the estates respectively were created, or under any disposition thereof by deed or will, and also to all rights of entry for conditions broken and other rights of entry, and also to such of the same estates, interests and rights respectively, and other real and personal estate, as the testator may be entitled to at the time of his or her death, notwithstanding that he or she may become entitled to the same subsequently to the execution of his or her will.
- § 33-5-4 Nomination of guardian by will. – Every person authorized by law to make a will may nominate by his or her will a guardian or guardians for his or her children during their minority, and a successor guardian or guardians for persons who are retarded as defined in chapter 22 of title 40.1 for whom he or she had been appointed guardian during his or her lifetime, and the probate court shall appoint the guardian or guardians unless good cause be shown to the contrary; provided, that, in the case of husband and wife, the survivor, being otherwise qualified, shall be the guardian of their children.
- § 33-5-5 Execution of will – Acknowledgment and attestation. – No will shall be valid, except as provided in §§ 33-5-6 and 33-5-7, unless it shall be in writing and signed by the testator, or by some other person for him or her in his or her presence and by his or her express direction; and this signature shall be made or acknowledged by the testator in the presence of two (2) or more witnesses present at the same time, and the witnesses shall attest and shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator, but no form of attestation shall be necessary, and no other publication shall be necessary.
- § 33-5-7 Wills conforming to laws of other states. – Any last will and testament executed outside this state in the mode prescribed by the law, either of the place where executed or of the testator's domicile, shall be deemed to be legally executed, and shall be of the same force and effect as if executed in the mode prescribed by the laws of this state; provided, the last will and testament is in writing and subscribed by the testator.
- § 33-5-9 Revocation of will by marriage. – The marriage of a person shall act as a revocation of a will made by him or her previous to the marriage, unless it appears from the will that it was made in contemplation thereof; but if the will exercises a power of appointment and the real and personal property thereby appointed would not, in default of the appointment, pass to the persons who would have been entitled to it had it been the property and estate of the testator or testatrix making the appointment and had he or she died intestate, so much of the will as makes the appointment shall not be revoked by the marriage.
- § 33-5-9.1 Revocation of provision in will for divorced spouse. – The entry of a final judgment in the divorce of a person shall act as a revocation of all provisions for the benefit of the former spouse in a will made by the person prior to the divorce, unless it appears from the will that the will was made in contemplation of the divorce. All other provisions in the will shall take effect as though the former spouse had predeceased the person.
- § 33-5-10 Methods of revoking will. – No will or codicil or any part thereof shall be revoked except as provided in § 33-5-9, or by another will or codicil executed in the manner required by § 33-5-5, or by some writing declaring an intention to revoke the will and executed in the manner in which a will is required to be executed, or by burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the will by the testator, or by some person in his or her presence and by his or her direction, with the intention of revoking the will.
- § 33-5-11 Alteration of circumstances. – No will shall be revoked by any presumption of intention on the ground of an alteration in circumstances.
Library of Informational Legal Articles
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