Yes, you can write your own will in California. State law lets any resident who is at least 18 and of sound mind create a valid will without an attorney, and it recognizes three do-it-yourself formats: a formal typed will with witnesses, a handwritten (holographic) will, and a fill-in-the-blank statutory will.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6100 All three carry the same legal weight once admitted to probate. What differs is how you sign them and how well they hold up if someone challenges your estate.
Are You Eligible to Write a Will
Two things have to be true on the day you sign: you are at least 18 years old, and you are of sound mind.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6100 Sound mind here is a lower bar than what’s needed to run a business. It means you understand you’re creating a document that distributes your property after death, you can recall roughly what you own and what it’s worth, and you remember the people who would naturally expect to inherit, such as a spouse, children, or parents. If someone later contests the will on capacity grounds, the court looks at whether those three things were true at signing.
A conservatee can also have a will made, but only if a court specifically authorizes the conservator to do so. A conservatee who remains mentally competent can still revoke that will or write a new one on their own.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6100
Your Three Options for a DIY Will
Formal Will
This is the most common. Under California Probate Code Section 6110, a formal will must be written, signed by you, and witnessed by at least two people. You can type it, print it from a template, or write it by hand. The format itself doesn’t matter so long as the witnessing is done right. If you physically cannot sign, another person can sign your name for you, but only in your presence and at your direction, with the witnesses present.2California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6110
Holographic (Handwritten) Will
A holographic will is one where the material provisions (who gets what) and your signature are entirely in your own handwriting. California Probate Code Section 6111 allows it to be valid with no witnesses at all.3California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6111 The rest of the document doesn’t have to be handwritten, but the distribution portions do.
The trade-off is vulnerability. Because no one witnessed the signing, a probate court will scrutinize whether the handwriting really is yours, and a contesting relative can force a handwriting expert into the picture. Ambiguous wording is also harder to clear up when there’s no witness to say what you meant. For simple estates where you want to skip a signing ceremony, a holographic will works. For larger estates or families with any history of friction, the formal route gives you more protection.
California Statutory Will
Probate Code Sections 6240 through 6248 provide a pre-approved fill-in-the-blank form.4Justia Law. California Probate Code Division 6, Part 1, Chapter 6 – California Statutory Will You add your information, name beneficiaries, pick an executor, and designate a guardian for minor children if needed. The legal language is already drafted. It still requires two witnesses, like any formal will.
The statutory will fits straightforward wishes: everything to a spouse, or split equally among children, or a combination. It cannot create trusts, set conditions on gifts, or make detailed specific bequests like leaving one piece of jewelry to one person. If you need that kind of control, a formal will is the better choice.
How to Sign and Witness Your Will
The signing ceremony is where most self-drafted wills succeed or fail. For a formal or statutory will, you must sign in the presence of at least two witnesses. Both witnesses must be present at the same time, and each must sign the will during your lifetime.2California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6110 They do not need to read the contents, but they do need to understand that the document is your will.
Pick witnesses who are not beneficiaries. California law creates a rebuttable presumption that any gift to an interested witness was procured through undue influence. If the witness can’t overcome the presumption, their gift is reduced to whatever they would have received if you had died without a will.5California Legislative Information. California Probate Code PROB 6112 The will itself stays valid; only that witness’s share is at risk. Easiest fix: use two disinterested witnesses.
One practical note. California does not have a self-proving affidavit statute, which many other states use to let witnesses skip court. That means when your will is submitted for probate, the court may need to locate your witnesses and take their testimony to confirm the signing. Choose witnesses who are younger, healthy, and easy to track down years from now. Notarization is not required and gives your will no special legal status in California, though some people notarize anyway as an extra layer of documentation.
What You Can Actually Give Away
Before you draft a line, understand what your will controls. Two categories of assets routinely trip up DIY wills.
Community Property
California is a community property state. When one spouse dies, half of the community property already belongs to the surviving spouse. You can only give away your half through your will.6California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 100 Community property generally covers anything either spouse earned or acquired during the marriage, regardless of whose name is on the account or title.
Separate property is yours alone to give away. That includes anything you owned before the marriage, gifts made specifically to you, and inheritances you received. If you try to leave your spouse’s half of community property to someone else, that provision will not hold up in probate. This is where many self-drafted wills go wrong, especially when couples own a home together and one spouse attempts to leave the whole property to someone outside the marriage. Sort your assets into community and separate before you start.
Assets That Pass Outside Your Will
Some assets transfer automatically on death, no matter what your will says.
- Real estate or bank accounts held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship go to the surviving owner. Your will has no effect on them.
- Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, and payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts go to whoever is named on the beneficiary form. If your will says one thing and the beneficiary form says another, the form wins.
- Assets you transferred into a revocable living trust during your lifetime are distributed under the trust, not the will.
Review your beneficiary designations and account titles before writing the will. If you want a specific person to inherit a retirement account or insurance payout, update the beneficiary form directly with the institution.
What to Put in the Document
Gather your inventory first: real estate not held in joint tenancy, bank accounts without payable-on-death designations, vehicles, personal property, and anything else that doesn’t pass automatically to someone else. Collect the full legal names and current addresses of everyone you plan to name. “My cousin Sarah” invites a dispute when two cousins share the name.
The document should open with a clear statement that it is your will and that you revoke any prior wills or codicils. From there, describe each asset specifically enough that no one has to guess, and name who receives it. Include a residuary clause naming who gets whatever isn’t specifically listed. Without a residuary clause, unlisted property may pass through intestacy as if you had no will at all.
If you have children under 18, your will is where you name a guardian. Without that designation, a judge decides who raises them based on the court’s own assessment. Naming a guardian in your will doesn’t bind the court, but it carries significant weight. Name an alternate as well, in case your first choice can’t serve.
You also need to name an executor: the person who files the will, notifies beneficiaries and creditors, pays debts and taxes, and distributes property. Pick someone you trust to manage paperwork and deadlines during a hard time. California sets a statutory fee schedule for executors based on a percentage of the estate’s appraised value,7Justia Law. California Probate Code 10800-10805 which an executor can waive and family members often do. Discuss it in advance. And name an alternate executor too.
Changing or Revoking the Will Later
California gives you two ways to revoke a will. You can write a new will that expressly revokes the old one, or write one so inconsistent with the old one that it effectively replaces it. You can also physically destroy the old will by burning, tearing, canceling, or obliterating it, as long as you do so with intent to revoke.8California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6120 Someone else can destroy it for you, but only in your presence and at your direction.
For small changes, you can write a codicil, which is essentially an amendment. A codicil has to meet the same signing and witnessing requirements as the will itself. For anything more than a minor tweak, writing a new will with a revocation clause is cleaner. Multiple codicils stacked on top of an original will create contradictions a court has to untangle.
A common mistake: crossing out a line in your signed will and writing in a new provision. Unless the entire will is holographic, that handwritten change may not be enforceable. The safe move is always a new document with a fresh signing.
Where to Keep the Signed Will
Your will has to be physically available when you die, or it’s as if it doesn’t exist. Keep the original signed document somewhere secure but accessible. A fireproof home safe is a common choice. Safe deposit boxes work but can create delays, since your executor may need a court order to open the box depending on the bank’s policy.
Tell your executor exactly where the original is. You can give copies to trusted family members, but make clear that only the original is legally effective. Probate courts are reluctant to admit copies, because a missing original raises a presumption that you intentionally destroyed it to revoke it.
California law requires anyone with custody of a deceased person’s will to deliver it to the superior court clerk of the county where the estate will be administered.9California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 8200 It can be done in person or by certified mail. If you’re holding someone else’s will and you learn they’ve died, don’t wait to be asked. Get it to the court.
What Happens If You Don’t Write One
If you die without a valid will, California’s intestacy laws decide who gets your property. The estate goes to your closest living relatives in a statutory priority order: surviving spouse first, then children, then parents, then siblings, and down from there. You have no say in the proportions, and people you would have preferred to include may receive nothing. For parents of minor children, intestacy also means a judge chooses the guardian with no input from you. A valid will, even a short one, prevents both outcomes.
California imposes no state estate tax or inheritance tax, and hasn’t since January 1, 2005.10California State Controller’s Office. California Estate Tax If your estate is large enough that federal estate tax might be in play, you should be working with an attorney rather than drafting on your own.