MO · Will guide
Missouri will requirements (two witnesses subscribe in your presence)
You're going to die. Missouri already wrote an intestacy ending for the house, the truck, and the account you keep meaning to retitle. A will is how you replace that ending. RSMo §474.320 wants a writing, your signature (or someone else's, by your direction, in your presence), and two or more competent witnesses who subscribe their names in your presence.
That last phrase is the Missouri landmine. The witnesses sign while you are there. The statute does not say they have to sign in front of each other. Indiana's "and each other" rule is a different code. Missouri also has no holographic-will section. If a checklist called §474.330 holographic, the checklist swapped the labels. Section 474.330 is what happens when a witness is also a beneficiary.
The short version
How to sign a will in Missouri
Product path is the witnessed writing in RSMo §474.320. Plain sequence:
- Put the will in writing. Typed is fine.
- Sign it yourself. If you cannot, another person may sign your name by your direction, and that has to happen in your presence.
- Two or more competent witnesses subscribe their names in your presence.
"Subscribe their names in the presence of the testator" is the validity sentence. It does not say "in the presence of each other." Do not import Indiana Code 29-1-5-3 into a Missouri kitchen. It also does not say the witnesses may acknowledge the will later and sign within a reasonable time. That UPC timing is not the fetched Missouri execution section. If you want the Missouri ceremony, have them sign while you are in the room. A self-proving affidavit under §474.337 is a second, optional step. The statutory form talks about appearing together before an officer and about each witness signing in the presence and hearing of the testator. Those words live in the self-prove form. They are not extra elements you can read backward into §474.320. A will can be valid under §474.320 without an officer, a seal, or a hearing recital. Electronic and remote signing: out of scope / VERIFY. Nothing in the fetched §§474.320, 474.330, or 474.337 authorizes a remote product path.
Missouri will witnesses
Section 474.330.1 is the competence rule: a person generally competent to be a witness may witness a will. The will is not invalid because a witness is also interested in it.
Interest has a price. Under §474.330.2, an interested witness forfeits so much of the gift as exceeds what that witness would have taken if you had died without a will, valued at death, unless the will is also attested by two disinterested witnesses. Two clean witnesses plus a beneficiary who also signs can save the gift. Two witnesses total, one of whom inherits, does not meet "also attested by two disinterested witnesses."
Section 474.330.3: a creditor, or a person named as executor, does not count as interested for this purpose unless the will also gives that person a personal and beneficial interest. Naming your brother executor and leaving him the usual fee is a different problem from leaving him the house and handing him the pen.
Missouri's fetched purge statute has no "sufficient evidence the testator intended the full transfer" escape. That escape is Wisconsin §853.07(2)(c). Do not comfort a Missouri beneficiary-witness with Wisconsin's savings clause.
Prefer two people who take nothing under the will. You still need them in your presence when they subscribe. You do not need them to watch each other write.
Does a Missouri will need to be notarized
For validity under §474.320: no. A notary stamp is not what makes the will a will.
Self-proving under §474.337 is optional. It can happen when you sign, or later. You and the witnesses acknowledge before an officer authorized to administer oaths under Missouri law. The officer attaches or annexes a certificate under official seal, substantially in the statutory form.
Read the form for what it is. It recites that the testator and the witnesses appeared together, and that each witness signed in the presence and hearing of the testator. That is the self-prove ceremony. People upgrade it into the validity rule and then think a will is dead because nobody said "hearing" out loud or because the witnesses did not stand in a notary's office. Validity is still §474.320.
Section 474.337.2 covers an officer who has no seal. Mention it if you are looking at that certificate. Do not build the page around it.
A notary does not replace the two witnesses. Self-proving rides on a will that was already attested.
Missouri will mistakes that hurt later
- Teaching §474.330 as a holographic-will statute. It is the interested-witness statute. Missouri has no holographic section to teach. An unwitnessed handwritten page fails §474.320.
- Requiring the witnesses to sign in each other's presence. That is an Indiana rule. Section 474.320 requires subscription in the testator's presence.
- Treating the self-prove form's "presence and hearing" and "appeared together" language as the validity rule. Those recitals belong to §474.337.
- Copying Wisconsin's intent-savings clause into Missouri. Section 474.330 forfeits the excess unless two disinterested witnesses also attest. It does not add "or we can prove you meant the full gift."
- Letting a beneficiary be one of only two witnesses and assuming the gift is safe because the will is safe. The will can stand while the excess gift does not.
Are holographic wills valid in Missouri
No holographic statute shows up in the execution sections that govern this page. A handwritten will with no witnesses does not satisfy §474.320. Two competent witnesses still have to subscribe in your presence.
Section 474.330 is not a back door for unwitnessed handwriting. It tells you what happens to a gift when a witness is interested. If someone sold you a "Missouri holographic will" under that number, they mislabeled the statute.
Killswitch signing instructions target the witnessed §474.320 path, with optional self-proof under §474.337 if you want the affidavit. We do not print a handwriting-only ceremony for Missouri.
How Killswitch helps with a Missouri will
Killswitch drafts the will and prints Missouri signing instructions that tell the witnesses to subscribe in your presence, without bolting on Indiana's each-other rule or a holographic shortcut the revisor does not have.
The instructions also flag the interested-witness math in §474.330 so a beneficiary with a pen is a choice you see before the signing, not a surprise in probate. Self-proving stays optional.
Free to write and read. Pay once for the finished copy. You still gather the witnesses and run §474.320. We do not notarize. We are not your lawyer.
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
How many witnesses does a Missouri will need
Two or more competent witnesses must subscribe their names in the testator's presence under RSMo §474.320. The statute does not require them to sign in each other's presence.
Does a will need to be notarized in Missouri
No. A notary is not required for validity under §474.320. An officer authorized to administer oaths is used only if you want the optional self-proving certificate under §474.337.
What is a Missouri self-proving will
An optional certificate under RSMo §474.337, made at signing or later, with the testator and the witnesses acknowledging before an oath officer and a sealed certificate in the statutory form. The form's "appeared together" and "presence and hearing" language is the self-prove recital, not an extra validity element in §474.320.
Can a beneficiary witness a Missouri will
The will is not invalid because an interested witness attested (§474.330). That witness forfeits the excess of the gift over the intestate share unless two disinterested witnesses also attest. A creditor, or a person named only as executor, is not interested unless the will gives a personal and beneficial interest. Missouri's section has no intent-savings clause.
Are holographic wills valid in Missouri
Missouri has no holographic statute in the sections that govern execution. An unwitnessed handwritten will fails §474.320. Section 474.330 is the interested-witness rule, not a holographic will.
Do Missouri witnesses have to watch each other sign
No. Section 474.320 requires each witness to subscribe in the testator's presence. It does not require the witnesses to sign in each other's presence.
Sources
MO will
Start your Missouri will in plain English.
Free to write and read. Pay once for the finished copy. Signing instructions for your state print on the document.
Killswitch is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. This page is educational information about Missouri statutes, not advice about your situation. Laws change. Read the cited sources and talk to a licensed attorney if your estate is complicated (business, trust, fight already in progress, or anything that already has lawyers in it). We put signing instructions on your document in plain English. You still have to follow your state's rules when you sign.
