How to Make a Will in Maryland: Signing, Contents, and Storage

To make a will in Maryland, you must be at least 18 and legally competent, put your wishes in writing, sign the document, and have at least two credible witnesses sign it in your presence. ¹ Those three formalities are the whole legal minimum. Everything else — who inherits, who administers the estate, who raises your children — is content you decide and put inside that signed document. Miss any of the three formalities and the will is invalid, and Maryland’s intestacy statute takes over instead of your instructions.

Who Can Make a Will

Maryland requires two things of the person signing: age 18 or older and legal competence at the moment of signing. ¹ Competence means you understand that you’re making a will, you know roughly what property you own, and you can identify the people who would naturally inherit from you. Physical frailty or a temporary illness doesn’t destroy competence; the question is whether you grasp what you’re signing.

Competence challenges are uncommon but do happen, especially when a will is signed late in life or during serious illness. If that’s your situation, ask the attorney who supervises the signing to document your mental state that day.

The Signing Formalities

Three requirements must all be met, or the will fails: ¹

The will must be in writing. Typed or handwritten is fine; it must be a physical document, or an electronic will that meets the separate rules discussed below.
You must sign it. If you physically can’t, another person may sign for you, but only in your presence and at your express direction.
At least two credible witnesses must sign the will in your physical presence.

The witnesses don’t need to read the will or know what’s in it. They need to see you sign (or hear you acknowledge your signature) and then sign the document themselves while you’re there. A notary is not required to make the will valid.

Maryland doesn’t forbid a beneficiary from serving as a witness, but using disinterested witnesses — people who inherit nothing under the will — is the smarter choice. ² A beneficiary-witness gives anyone contesting the will an easy target, even though the arrangement is technically legal.

What the Will Should Say

Identify Yourself and Your Beneficiaries

Open with your full legal name and address, and a statement that this is your last will. Then specify who gets what. You can leave specific items to specific people, or divide everything by percentage, or both. Whatever is left after specific gifts and debts are paid is the residuary estate, and your will should name who receives it. Forgetting the residue is one of the most common drafting mistakes; anything not addressed passes under intestacy rather than under your will.

Think through what happens if a beneficiary dies before you do. You can direct that a deceased beneficiary’s share passes to their own children (a “per stirpes” distribution), or that it gets divided among your surviving beneficiaries. Spelling this out keeps a court from having to guess.

Name a Personal Representative

Your personal representative collects your assets, pays debts and taxes, and distributes property according to your instructions. Maryland doesn’t require you to name one in the will — the court can appoint someone if you don’t — but naming your own gives you control over who handles your finances. ² Name a backup in case your first choice can’t or won’t serve.

Maryland caps personal representative compensation at 9% on the first $20,000 of estate assets, then $1,800 plus 3.6% on assets above $20,000. ³ Your will can set a different arrangement if you prefer.

Name a Guardian for Minor Children

For parents of children under 18, this may be the single most important thing the will does. If both parents die or become unable to care for their children, the court looks to the will to decide who raises them. Without that guidance, a judge chooses someone under a priority list set by Maryland law, and the result may not be who you would have picked. A will can also leave property to minor children, but those assets are typically better managed through a trust, either created within the will or as a separate document, so a trustee holds the money until the children reach the age you set.

Making the Will Self-Proving

A self-proving affidavit is an optional add-on at the signing that saves your family time later. Without it, the probate court may need to locate your witnesses and have them confirm the will was properly signed, which becomes difficult if years pass, witnesses move, or memories fade. A self-proving affidavit is a sworn statement, signed by you and your witnesses before a notary, confirming that the legal formalities were followed. With it attached, the court can accept the will without tracking witnesses down. ⁴

Since witnesses are already assembled for the signing, adding a notary is minimal extra effort. Most estate planning attorneys include a self-proving affidavit as a standard part of the execution package.

Handwritten and Electronic Wills

Maryland does not recognize standard handwritten, unwitnessed wills. No matter how clearly a homemade document states your wishes, it won’t hold up. The only exception is for members of the armed services: a will entirely in the handwriting of a service member, signed outside the United States, is valid without witnesses. That handwritten will expires one year after discharge unless the person dies or loses competence first. ⁵

Electronic and remotely witnessed wills are permitted, but with guardrails. An electronic or remotely witnessed will requires a supervising attorney present during execution. If witnesses join by video, the testator and every witness must be able to see and hear each other, the testator must be a Maryland resident or physically located in Maryland, and each remote witness must be a U.S. resident physically in the United States. The supervising attorney also has to create a certified paper version with original or electronic signatures. ¹ This is a structured legal process, not a casual video call.

What Your Will Does Not Control

Assets With Named Beneficiaries

Several common assets bypass probate entirely and pass to whoever is named on the account, regardless of what your will says:

Retirement accounts (401(k)s, IRAs) with a named beneficiary
Life insurance policies with a named beneficiary
Payable-on-death bank accounts and transfer-on-death investment accounts
Jointly owned property with rights of survivorship

If your will leaves everything to your children but your 401(k) still names an ex-spouse, the ex-spouse gets the retirement account. The beneficiary designation wins every time. Review these designations whenever your circumstances change. A blank designation can send the asset into probate unnecessarily.

Your Spouse’s Elective Share

Maryland guarantees a surviving spouse a minimum share of your estate even if your will says otherwise. This elective share exists to prevent complete disinheritance. If your spouse rejects what you left them and elects the statutory share instead, they can claim one-third of the net estate if you have surviving descendants, or one-half if you don’t. The net estate is reduced by funeral costs, administration expenses, and enforceable debts, and the elective share can never exceed one-half. ⁶ Know this before drafting a will that leaves a spouse less; they can override it by filing with the court.

Automatic Revocation by Life Events

Two life events change your will automatically, and they catch people off guard. If you get married and then have or adopt a child, every will executed before that marriage is revoked, as long as the child or the child’s descendant survives you. A divorce or annulment automatically revokes every provision in your will that relates to your former spouse; the rest of the will stays intact. ⁷ These rules are a safety net, not a substitute for a new will after a major life event.

Changing or Revoking the Will Later

You can change your will at any time while you’re competent. For minor changes, use a codicil — a separate document that amends specific provisions and is signed and witnessed with the same formalities as the will itself. ² For substantial changes, writing a new will that expressly revokes prior wills is cleaner. You can also revoke a will by physically destroying it — burning, tearing, or obliterating it — if you intend that act as a revocation. Someone else can destroy the will for you, but only in your presence and at your express direction. ⁷

Storing the Signed Original

A will that can’t be found is as useless as one never written. Only the original document, not a photocopy, can be admitted to probate. Maryland offers a formal deposit option: you can file your will with the Register of Wills in the county where you live. The register seals the will in a wrapper marked with your name, address, and Social Security number, and gives you a receipt. The will stays sealed and can only be opened or delivered as the law allows. ⁸

Common alternatives include a fireproof home safe, a bank safe deposit box, or leaving the original with the attorney who drafted it. Whichever you choose, tell your personal representative where the will is and how to access it.

1
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 4-102 – Writing and Execution of Wills
2
Maryland Register of Wills. Facts About Wills
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Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 7-601 – Compensation of Personal Representative
4
Maryland General Assembly. Fiscal and Policy Note – SB 519
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Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 4-103
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Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 3-203 – Right to Elect Statutory Share
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Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 4-105 – Revocation of Will
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Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 4-202 – Deposit of Will