Delaware will requirements (two credible witnesses, or the will is void)

The short version

How to sign a will in Delaware

Product path is §202. "(a) Every will, whether of personal or real estate, must be: (1) In writing and signed by the testator or by some person subscribing the testator's name in the testator's presence and by the testator's express direction; and (2) Subject to § 1306 of this title, attested and subscribed in testator's presence by 2 or more credible witnesses. (b) Any will not complying with subsection (a) of this section shall be void."

1. Put the will in writing.
2. Sign it. Or have someone subscribe your name in your presence and by your express direction.
3. Two or more credible witnesses attest and subscribe the will in your presence.

That is the whole statutory list. §202 does not require the witnesses to sign in each other's presence, does not require a spoken declaration, and does not add a signed-at-the-end rule. Do not import those from other states. §202 also does not spell out exactly what the witnesses must see before they attest. Killswitch's signing sheet runs the plain version: you sign with both witnesses in the room, then each witness signs while you watch. That is our instruction for clean proof later. It is not an extra Delaware element, and this page does not claim it is. §201: a person 18 or older, of sound and disposing mind and memory, may make a will of real and personal estate. §1306(a) is choice of law. A written will signed by you, or by someone subscribing your name in your presence at your express direction, is valid if it complies with §202, or with the law at the time of execution of the place where it was signed, or with the law of the place where you were domiciled, had a place of abode, or were a national, at signing or at death. That recognizes wills made elsewhere. It does not turn §202 into a remote ceremony. FAQ only. Electronic and remote signing: not in the fetched sections. Out of scope.

Delaware will witnesses

Two or more credible witnesses, attesting and subscribing in your presence. That is the validity count.

§203(a): "Any person generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will."

§203(b): "A will or any provision thereof is not invalid because the will is signed by an interested person."

That is it. No forfeiture rule in the fetched text. No "two other witnesses" condition. No intestate-share cap. Some states punish a witness who inherits. Delaware's sections do not, and this page does not borrow a penalty from Connecticut, Missouri, or anywhere else.

You should still pick two people who take nothing. Delaware will not void the gift. Your cousin who got skipped will still ask why the person holding the pen got the boat.

Does a Delaware will need to be notarized

For validity under §202: no.

§1305: "An attested will may at the time of its execution or at any subsequent date be made self-proved," by your acknowledgment and the witnesses' affidavits, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of Delaware, evidenced by the officer's certificate under official seal, attached or annexed to the will, in substantially the statutory form.

At signing or any later date. If you skipped it at the table, you can come back to it.

The form has the testator declare to the officer and the witnesses that the instrument is the testator's last will, and has each witness state, "in the presence and hearing of the testator," that they signed as a witness. That is affidavit language. It does not add a publication step or an each-other rule to §202.

§1306(b) adds a recognition rule. An attested will that is valid under §1306 is considered self-proved if it complies with §1305, or with the self-proved-will law of the jurisdiction where it was made self-proved, or with that of the place where you are domiciled, have a place of abode, or are a national at death. A will self-proved somewhere else does not automatically need its self-proof redone in Delaware.

Self-proof does not replace the two witnesses.

Delaware will mistakes that hurt later

1. Treating "void" as a suggestion. §202(b): a will not complying with §202(a) "shall be void." Two credible witnesses, attesting and subscribing in your presence, every time.
2. Pasting the Maryland or Connecticut guide. Delaware's text is its own. Do not import Maryland's presence wording or its remote and electronic paths. Do not import Connecticut's witness-gift rule or its long-gone three-witness history.
3. Inventing a witness-gift forfeiture. §203(b) says the will and its provisions are not invalid because an interested person signed.
4. Requiring each-other presence for validity. It is not in §202.
5. Reading §1306 as permission to sign remotely. §1306 is a choice-of-law and self-proof recognition rule. It is not a ceremony.
6. Skipping self-proof forever because you missed it at signing. §1305 allows it at any subsequent date.

Are holographic wills valid in Delaware

Not as a Delaware shortcut. §202 has no unwitnessed handwritten will, and §202(b) says a will that does not comply with §202(a) shall be void. A will in your handwriting still needs two credible witnesses who attest and subscribe in your presence. A will validly made elsewhere is a §1306 recognition question, not a handwriting loophole. Killswitch prints the witnessed will.

How Killswitch helps with a Delaware will

Killswitch drafts the will and prints §202 instructions: writing, your signature (or someone subscribing your name in your presence at your express direction), and two or more credible witnesses who attest and subscribe in your presence. "Shall be void" is stated as written. §203(b) is stated as a non-invalidity rule. The §1305 self-proving certificate is optional, at signing or later, and §1306(b) is explained as recognition, not a remote ceremony.

Free to write and read. Pay once for the finished copy. You still run §202. We do not notarize. We are not your lawyer.

Start your Delaware will

Free to write and read. Pay once for the finished copy. Signing instructions for your state print on the document.

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Frequently asked questions

Sources

• 12 Del. C. §§201 to 203 (who may make a will; requisites and execution; witnesses)
• 12 Del. C. §§1305 and 1306 (self-proved will; choice of law as to execution and proving of wills)
• Killswitch Terms