To make a last will and testament, you inventory what you own, decide who should receive it, name an executor to carry out your wishes, put those decisions in writing, and sign the document in front of two disinterested witnesses following your state’s rules. Done correctly, it takes most people a single afternoon. Done incorrectly, or not at all, a probate judge divides your property under a statutory family hierarchy that may look nothing like what you wanted.
Step 1: Take Inventory and Make the Core Decisions
Start with a written list of what you own: real estate, bank accounts, investment and brokerage accounts, vehicles, and valuable personal property like jewelry, art, or collections. Note approximate values and whose name is on each account or title. That inventory is the backbone of the will.
Then choose your beneficiaries, the people or organizations who will receive your property. Use full legal names and, where useful, relationships (“my daughter, Jane Smith”). Decide whether to leave particular items to particular people (specific bequests) or divide everything by percentage. Plan for the leftovers too. A residuary clause sweeps up anything you didn’t specifically mention; without one, unnamed assets land in probate limbo.
Pick an executor. That person pays your final debts and taxes, manages your property during probate, and distributes what’s left to your beneficiaries. Choose someone organized and trustworthy, and name at least one backup. If you have minor children, naming a guardian is the single most important decision in your will. Think seriously about the person’s lifestyle, financial stability, and willingness to serve, and name an alternate.
You also have to meet the basic legal bar for making a will at all. Under the Uniform Probate Code, adopted in whole or part by most states, you must be at least 18 and of sound mind, meaning you understand you’re making a will, you have a general sense of what you own, and you know who your closest family members are. A few states allow emancipated minors or married individuals under 18 to sign a will. The document must reflect your genuine intent and be signed voluntarily; a will produced by pressure, trickery, or manipulation can be thrown out for undue influence or fraud.
Step 2: Know What Your Will Can’t Control
Before drafting, understand that a chunk of your wealth probably won’t pass through your will no matter what it says. Certain assets transfer at death by contract or by operation of law, and the beneficiary designation on the account beats the will every time.
- Retirement accounts like 401(k)s, IRAs, and pensions pass to whoever is named on the beneficiary form.
- Life insurance proceeds go to the named beneficiary, not through probate.
- Joint accounts and real estate held as joint tenants with right of survivorship transfer automatically to the surviving owner.
- Payable-on-death bank accounts and transfer-on-death investment accounts pass directly to the named person.
- Roughly 32 states allow a transfer-on-death deed that names a beneficiary for real estate and keeps it out of probate.
Review every beneficiary designation while you’re making your will and update any that conflict with your plan. If your will leaves everything to your children but an old 401(k) still names an ex-spouse, the ex-spouse gets the 401(k).
Spousal rights are the other limit. Most states give a surviving spouse an elective share, a minimum piece of the estate they can claim regardless of what the will says. A common statutory framework gives the surviving spouse one-third of the estate if there are children and one-half if there are not. In the nine community property states, each spouse already owns half of what was earned during the marriage, so your will can only direct your half. Either way, you generally cannot completely disinherit a spouse unless they waived that right in a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement.
Step 3: Choose How to Draft the Will
Three options cover most people, and the right one depends on how complicated your situation is.
Online Will Services
Online platforms walk you through a questionnaire and generate a state-specific document. Basic wills typically run $50 to $150, with bundled packages that include powers of attorney and living wills costing more. These work well for straightforward estates where you know who gets what and you don’t have a blended family or business ownership complicating things.
Hiring an Attorney
An estate planning attorney typically charges $300 to $1,000 for a simple will, and $1,000 or more for complex estates involving trusts or business interests. The extra cost buys someone who can spot conflicts between your will and beneficiary designations, flag tax planning opportunities, and handle state-specific quirks. If you own property in multiple states, have a blended family, or want to set up trusts for minor children, professional help is usually worth it.
Handwritten (Holographic) Wills
Roughly half the states recognize holographic wills, written entirely in your own handwriting and signed by you, with no witnesses required. Most of those states also want the document found among your important papers or in a safe place after your death. Holographic wills are legally valid where permitted but invite more challenges because there’s no witness testimony to fall back on. Treat this as a last resort.
Step 4: Fill in the Document
Accuracy matters more than elegance. Open with your full legal name and current address, followed by clear language declaring that this is your last will and testament and that it revokes all prior wills. Courts look for that declaration near the top.
Spell every beneficiary’s name exactly as it appears on their government ID and note the relationship. Ambiguity here is what ends up in court. List specific bequests first: who gets the house, who gets the antique clock, who gets a particular dollar amount. Then a residuary clause covers everything you didn’t name, either to a single person or split by percentage. Name your executor and an alternate. If you have minor children, name the guardian and an alternate guardian.
Add a digital assets clause. Nearly every state has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which gives your executor authority over your digital property, with one catch: the law distinguishes the content of your private communications from everything else. Your executor gets default access to non-content items like cryptocurrency and account catalogs, but accessing the content of emails or direct messages requires you to grant permission explicitly, either through the platform’s own online tool, your will, or another written document. Include language granting that authority, then keep a separate, secure list of accounts, usernames, and passwords, and tell your executor where to find it. For cryptocurrency, your executor needs the private keys or wallet credentials, or the assets can be permanently lost.
Step 5: Sign the Will With Witnesses
This is where formality matters most. A will that isn’t signed correctly is just paper. You must sign in the physical presence of at least two witnesses. Those witnesses should be disinterested, meaning they don’t stand to inherit under the will and aren’t named as executor. They watch you sign, then sign themselves and typically add their printed names and addresses.
Sign a self-proving affidavit at the same time if you can. It’s a sworn statement, signed by you and your witnesses in front of a notary public, confirming that you appeared to be of sound mind and signed voluntarily. Without it, your witnesses may have to be tracked down and brought into court during probate to testify that the signature is genuine. With it, the court typically accepts the will without calling them. Notary fees for this are generally modest.
Step 6: Store the Will and Tell the Right People
A will nobody can find is as useless as no will at all. Store the signed original in a fireproof safe at home, a bank safe deposit box, or with your attorney. Some states let you file the original with the local probate court clerk for a small fee, which ensures the most current version is on record and can’t be accidentally destroyed.
Tell your executor exactly where the original is. Give copies to your executor and your attorney, and consider giving copies to adult beneficiaries. Make clear that only the original, with wet signatures, is the legally operative document. A short letter of instruction stored alongside the will can cover funeral preferences, passwords, and the reasoning behind certain bequests; it isn’t legally binding, but it saves your executor guesswork.
Keeping the Will Current
A will isn’t a one-and-done document. Review it every three to five years, and sooner after any major life change: marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of a child, a significant change in assets, or the death of a named beneficiary or executor.
Two ways to make changes. A codicil is a formal amendment that modifies specific provisions and leaves the rest intact; it must be signed and witnessed with the same formalities as the original will. For anything beyond a minor tweak, most estate planners recommend a new will rather than layering codicils, because stacked codicils invite contradictory instructions. To revoke a will entirely, execute a new one with clear revocation language (“I revoke all prior wills and codicils”) or physically destroy the original by burning, tearing, or shredding it with intent to revoke. Crossing out a line or writing “void” on the cover is risky and often doesn’t satisfy state law.
One quirk catches people off guard: in most states, divorce automatically revokes any provisions in your will that benefit your former spouse, but marriage does not automatically revoke your existing will. If you marry and don’t update, your new spouse may still be entitled to the elective share, and your prior beneficiaries may receive less than you intended. Execute a new will promptly after any major life event.
What Happens if You Skip the Will Entirely
Dying without a will, called dying intestate, means a probate court distributes your property according to a statutory formula that generally prioritizes your surviving spouse and children, then parents, then siblings, and on down the family tree. If you’re unmarried with no children, your assets may go to relatives you haven’t spoken to in years. If no relatives can be found, the state takes everything. A judge who has never met your family also chooses who manages the estate and, if you have minor children, who raises them. Getting a valid will signed is how you keep those decisions in your own hands.