WV · Will guide
West Virginia will requirements (same-time witnesses, unless wholly handwritten)
You're going to die. The will on the kitchen table that you keep meaning to finish is still a draft. The hollow will not subscribe it for you.
W. Va. Code 41-1-3 is blunt, and it is not the Kentucky page with the name changed. No will is valid unless it is in writing and signed by you, or by some other person in your presence and by your direction, in such a manner that it is manifest the name is intended as a signature. Unless the whole will is in your handwriting, that signature is made, or the will is acknowledged, in the presence of at least two competent witnesses, present at the same time. Those witnesses subscribe in your presence and in the presence of each other. No form of attestation is necessary.
"No form" means no magic paragraph. It does not mean no witnesses. The wholly handwritten path is a FAQ. The product is the witnessed clause.
The short version
How to sign a will in West Virginia
Product path is the witnessed clause of 41-1-3. Do not paste Kentucky. The overlap is the wholly-handwritten exception. The sentences this page exists to carry are the ones that exception does not erase: a signature that shows the name is meant as a signature, witnesses present at the same time, and no required attestation paragraph.
- Put the will in writing.
- Sign it, or have some other person sign in your presence and by your direction. Sign so it is manifest that the name is intended as a signature. A mark, a scribble, or a name in the margin that does not read as a signature is the thing this clause is worried about.
- Unless the whole will is in your handwriting, make that signature, or acknowledge the will, in the presence of at least two competent witnesses. Those witnesses are present at the same time.
- Each witness subscribes the will in your presence and in the presence of the other witness.
One witness in the morning and one after supper is not "present at the same time." Subscribing down the hall, out of your sight and out of each other's sight, misses the statute. "No form of attestation shall be necessary" means you do not need a magic paragraph above the signature lines. You still need the witnesses on a will that is not wholly in your handwriting. Do not add a Kentucky gloss that the testator must have "subscribed" in some extra sense beyond this sentence. Do not add a date requirement from a handwritten-will statute this section does not contain. Electronic and remote signing: not in the fetched sections. Out of scope.
West Virginia will witnesses
At least two competent witnesses, present at the same time, subscribing in the testator's presence and in each other's presence. That is the product count. The wholly handwritten exception is not the default.
41-2-1 keeps a condition. Quote the operative part: if a will is attested by a person to whom, or to whose wife or husband, any beneficial interest is devised or bequeathed, "if the will may not be otherwise proved such person shall be deemed a competent witness; but such devise or bequest shall be void," except that if the witness would have taken a share had the will not been established, so much of that share as does not exceed the value of what was devised or bequeathed is saved.
Do not shorten this to "a gift to a witness is always void." The "may not be otherwise proved" clause is in the sentence. Drop it and you have written a different rule. The witness, or the witness's spouse, can be the problem. Do not widen "wife or husband" to every relative.
The same section continues into what a contestant may do with an attesting witness, in court or by deposition. This page does not turn that into a how-to. It is contest procedure, not the signing ceremony.
Prefer two people who take nothing, in the room together, subscribing while you and both of them can see it happen.
Does a West Virginia will need to be notarized
For validity under 41-1-3: no. The section does not mention a notary.
A self-proving affidavit was not in the fetched text of 41-1-3 or 41-2-1. VERIFY. This page does not invent a form, a seal, or an officer. Do not tell a reader that taking the will to a notary creates a self-proved West Virginia will. If a later packet opens a different official section and finds one, that packet can say so. This one cannot.
"No form of attestation shall be necessary" is about the attestation paragraph. It is not a self-proving statute.
West Virginia will mistakes that hurt later
- Pasting the Kentucky page. Kentucky's witness clause and West Virginia's witness clause are not the same sentence. Keep "present at the same time," "manifest that the name is intended as a signature," and "no form of attestation shall be necessary."
- Dropping any one of those three. Same-time presence is the landmine. A signature that does not read as a signature fails before the witness count matters. "No form" is not permission to skip witnesses.
- Teaching the wholly handwritten path as the product. It is the exception to the witness clause. The product is the witnessed will. Do not add a "subscribed" gloss from Kentucky, and do not add a date requirement the fetched sentence does not have.
- Inventing a self-proving affidavit. Not found in the fetched sections. VERIFY. A notary does not, on this page, mint a self-proved will.
- Dropping "if the will may not be otherwise proved" from 41-2-1. A devise or bequest to a beneficiary witness, or to that witness's wife or husband, is void when that condition is met, with an intestate-share save. It is not "always void," and this page does not teach a deposition.
Are holographic wills valid in West Virginia
41-1-3 does not use the word holographic. If the will is wholly in the handwriting of the testator, the two-witness clause does not apply. The will must still be in writing, and it must still be signed so it is manifest that the name is intended as a signature. "Wholly" means the will, not a typed page with a handwritten signature.
That path is a FAQ. It is not the ceremony Killswitch prints. Do not add Kentucky's subscribed gloss. Do not add a date. Do not say one witness is enough, and do not raise the witnessed count above the two the section states.
How Killswitch helps with a West Virginia will
Killswitch drafts the will and prints the witnessed half of 41-1-3: a signature that shows the name is meant as a signature, at least two competent witnesses present at the same time, the signature made or the will acknowledged in their presence, and their subscriptions in your presence and in each other's. No magic attestation paragraph. The wholly handwritten sentence stays off the product ceremony. 41-2-1 is stated with the "may not be otherwise proved" condition. No self-proving form is invented.
Free to write and read. Pay once for the finished copy. You still get both witnesses into the same room. 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 West Virginia will need
Unless the will is wholly in the testator's handwriting, at least two competent witnesses, present at the same time. The signature is made or the will is acknowledged in their presence, and they subscribe in the presence of the testator and of each other (W. Va. Code 41-1-3). The name must be signed so it is manifest that the name is intended as a signature. No form of attestation is necessary. That means no magic paragraph. It does not mean no witnesses.
Do West Virginia will witnesses have to watch each other sign
Yes, on a will that is not wholly in the testator's handwriting. They also have to be present at the same time, and they subscribe in the testator's presence.
Does a will need to be notarized in West Virginia
Not for validity under 41-1-3. A self-proving statute was not in the fetched text of 41-1-3 or 41-2-1. VERIFY. This page does not invent one. A notary does not, based on these sections, create a self-proved West Virginia will.
Can a beneficiary witness a West Virginia will
If a beneficial interest is devised or bequeathed to a witness, or to that witness's wife or husband, and the will may not otherwise be proved, the witness is competent but the devise or bequest is void, except for the intestate share up to the value of that gift (41-2-1). Do not drop the "may not be otherwise proved" condition. Do not shorten the rule to "a gift to a witness is always void."
Are holographic wills valid in West Virginia
Only in the sense that 41-1-3 skips the witness clause when the will is wholly in the testator's handwriting. The signature rule still applies: it must be manifest that the name is intended as a signature. There is no date requirement in the fetched sentence. A typed will does not qualify. That path is not the ceremony Killswitch prints.
Does "no form of attestation" mean West Virginia needs no witnesses
No. It means no particular attestation paragraph is required. A will that is not wholly in the testator's handwriting still needs the two witnesses, present at the same time, subscribing in the testator's presence and in each other's.
Sources
WV will
Start your West Virginia 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 West Virginia 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.
