Does a Will Need to Be Notarized in Washington State?

A will does not need to be notarized in Washington State to be legally valid. Under state law, a will is valid if it is in writing, signed by you (or signed at your direction in your presence), and witnessed by at least two competent people.¹ Notarization only enters the picture if you choose to attach a self-proving affidavit, which is optional but can save your estate time and expense during probate.

What Washington Actually Requires

The person making the will must be at least 18 years old and of sound mind.² Sound mind means you understand what you own, who your family and beneficiaries are, and what it means to distribute your assets through a will.

The document itself has to satisfy three conditions:

It is in writing. Oral wills and audio or video recordings do not count.
You sign it, or someone signs your name at your direction and in your presence.
Two or more competent witnesses sign the will, or sign a self-proving affidavit under RCW 11.20.020, in your presence and at your direction or request.¹

Nothing in that list mentions a notary. The witnesses are the safeguard Washington relies on to confirm the will is authentic and was signed voluntarily.

Where Notarization Does Come In

The one place a notary matters is the self-proving affidavit. This is a sworn statement, signed by you and your witnesses in front of a notary, confirming the circumstances of the will’s execution: that you identified the document as your will, that you appeared to be of sound mind, and that the witnesses watched you sign or heard you acknowledge your signature.³

The affidavit does not make the will more valid. A will without one carries the same legal weight. What the affidavit changes is what happens later. When your will reaches probate, the court needs proof that it was properly executed. Without a self-proving affidavit, that usually means tracking down your original witnesses so they can testify or sign an affidavit at that point. With one, the sworn statement already on file is accepted by the court as though it were live testimony.³

Years can pass between signing a will and probate. Witnesses move, become hard to locate, or die. Adding a notarized affidavit at the signing appointment usually takes only a few extra minutes and heads off those problems entirely. That is why most estate attorneys handle it as part of the same visit.

One limit to know: Washington does not allow remote online notarization for this purpose. You, the witnesses, and the notary all have to be physically present for the notarial act.⁴

Choosing Witnesses Without Creating Problems

Any competent adult can witness a will. The witnesses need to watch you sign, or hear you acknowledge your signature, and then sign the document themselves in your presence.¹ They do not have to sign in each other’s presence, only in yours.

The main pitfall is using an “interested witness,” meaning someone who receives a gift under the will. Washington does not invalidate the will in that situation, but the law creates a rebuttable presumption that the witness-beneficiary obtained their gift through fraud or undue influence. That presumption goes away if at least two other disinterested witnesses also signed.⁵ If the witness-beneficiary cannot rebut it, they are limited to whatever share they would have received had there been no will at all.

The clean solution is to pick two witnesses who are not named in the will.

Witnessing by Electronic Presence

Your witnesses do not necessarily have to be in the same room. Washington recognizes “electronic presence,” so if you and your witnesses can see, hear, and communicate with each other in real time through technology, that counts as being in each other’s presence for witnessing purposes.¹ When witnesses are not physically present, the will can be signed in counterparts, where each person signs a separate copy and the copies together make up a single will.

Wills That Look Valid but Are Not

Some assumptions about wills come from other states. A handwritten will signed only by the person who wrote it, called a holographic will, is not valid in Washington. The two-witness rule applies whether the document is handwritten or typed.¹

There is one exception. Washington honors foreign wills that were properly executed under the law of the place where they were signed, or the law of the testator’s domicile at the time of signing or death. A holographic will made in a state that recognizes them could be accepted here if it met that state’s rules.¹

Electronic Wills

Washington is one of the few states that recognizes a fully electronic will, meaning one created, signed, and stored digitally. To be valid, the electronic will must be readable as text at the time of signing (an audio or video recording alone does not qualify), signed electronically by you, and signed by at least two competent witnesses after you sign or acknowledge the signature, in your physical or electronic presence.⁶

The catch is storage. If the will is not maintained by a qualified custodian authorized to hold electronic wills securely, the court treats it as a lost or destroyed will, which triggers a more complicated probate process.³ For electronic wills, secure custodial storage is part of keeping the document enforceable.

Storing the Original and the 30-Day Delivery Rule

A valid will is only useful if someone can find it. Washington lets you file the original will, sealed, with any court that has jurisdiction during your lifetime. You can withdraw it any time with proper identification. Anyone else, including a guardian or someone holding your power of attorney, needs a court order to retrieve it.

After your death, the person holding your will has a deadline. Washington law requires any custodian of a will to deliver it to the court or to the named executor within 30 days of learning of your death. An executor who holds the will gets 40 days. Deliberately failing to deliver a will exposes that person to liability for any damages the delay causes.⁷

Most people keep the signed original in a fireproof safe at home. Safe deposit boxes can create access problems in the days after a death, when the executor may not yet have authority to open one. Wherever you keep it, tell at least one trusted person where to look.

1
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 11.12.020 – Requisites of Wills, Foreign Wills, Electronic Presence
2
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 11.12.010 – Who May Make a Will
3
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 11.20.020 – Application for Probate, Hearing, Order, Proof, Record of Testimony, Affidavits of Attesting Witnesses
4
Washington State Department of Licensing. Washington State Notary Public Guide
5
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 11.12.160 – Interested Witness, Effect on Will
6
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 11.12.440 – Electronic Wills, Execution, Procedure
7
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 11.20.010 – Duty of Custodian of Will, Liability