To make it quick and simple — Yes, a Notary can notarize signatures on a Will, although it is generally discouraged unless given written instructions by an Attorney. Wills are normally witnessed, but not notarized. But then, why be normal?
Can a notary witness a Will?
YES, a Notary can witness the signing of any document. However, it is discouraged for a notary to be involved in any transaction as a witness or Notary where they might have beneficial interest or financial interest! If the notary benefits in any way from a Will being signed or is closely related to a beneficiary, they could be said to have beneficial interest. Anybody eighteen years of age or older who can sign their own name and watch someone else sign can be a witness to a will. It is that simple!
Can a notary draft a Will?
Document drafting might be considered part of the practice of law in your state. You can ask your state bar association if a Notary can draft a document, or if a notary can draft a legal document. The answer is most likely no. Unless you are trained and authorized, I would stay away from document drafting of legal documents since it is so sensitive!
Then who can draft a Will?
Ask an Attorney to help you draft a Will. Ask the Attorney if the Will should be notarized or only witnessed. The witnesses of the Will can also be notarized by the way!
What about a Living Will?
Living Wills are typically very long documents drafted by Attorneys who specialize in Health Care legal documents. Health Care Power Of Attorney documents are close relatives of Living Wills. Living Wills are typically notarized and often need a notarization in the middle of the document as well as at the end of the potentially dozens of pages.
Can a notary notarize a Living Will?
Sure!
How about a Dying Will or a Won’t? Or a Living Will that doesn’t have a pulse! I know a Notary who is dying to notarize a Won’t with or without instructions from an Attorney!
Tweets:
(1) Yes, Notary can notarize signatures on a Will, although it is generally discouraged w/o written instructions from an Attorney.
(2) Document drafting may or may not be considered practicing law in your state. Ask the Bar Association.
(3) The difference between a regular Will and a Living Will is that the latter has a pulse.
You might also like:
Can a notary sign on a different day?
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=2457
The lady and the handwritten Will
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=3609
Types of witnesses in the Notary profession
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=5664
It is illegal in NY State to notarize the signature of the person who the will is for. Some wills specifically designed to circumvent this restriction have a NY State Attestation Section. In that section the notary will only notarize the statements of the two or three witnesses that witnessed the will being signed.
As this “technically” legal but violates the spirit of the law; I choose to avoid wills entirely. Of course medical “living wills” are OK.
NY Section 484 of the Judiciary Law (in part)
The execution of wills under the supervision of a notary public acting in
effect as a lawyer, “cannot be too strongly condemned, not only for the
reason that it means an invasion of the legal profession, but for the fact
that testators thereby run the risk of frustrating their own solemnly
declared intentions and rendering worthless maturely considered plans for
the disposition of estates whose creation may have been the fruit of lives
of industry and self-denial.” (Matter of Flynn, 142 Misc. 7.)
Comment by Kenneth A Edelstein — January 6, 2014 @ 1:22 am
Inasmuch as it is illegal for a Notary to notarize a will in NYS on their own, IF an Attorney is present, the Notary may notarize the document.
Comment by William Ponsot — January 18, 2014 @ 1:54 am
Are all states the same? I do not think in California a will is notarized, although the witness is usually notarized.
Comment by Terry Heschke — January 18, 2014 @ 2:01 am
A useful topic Discussed in wonderful , thank you for sharing.
Comment by JacksonKell — March 2, 2016 @ 7:02 am
Maybe we NSA’s should realize WHY an attorney should be composing any Wills. Laws change, some laws are in a state of flux, many are political footballs–where do you think we got the (in my state) ILLINOIS ADDENDUM TO RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LOAN APPLICATION, where it reads “Are you in a registered civil union?” Attorneys are insured, like the rest of us, but they are required to keep up with the law. Some law that you might have been familiar with a few years back may have changed. For instance, I discovered a few years back that it is legal to drive barefoot in the State of Illinois. I understand that it still is, but I imagine that it is not legal in all of the 50 states. You have to ask your lawyer about these things to keep up. =b Seriously, I would not ever want to be involved in writing legal verbage in a signer and/or notarized document, though I suspect that many documents in loan package were copied and pasted by non-attorneys, though I cannot prove it.
Comment by betty — April 22, 2019 @ 12:06 pm
I just downloaded a living will.i filled it out.i want to make sure my children.have options as far as my condo goes.they can continue with the payments or sell.pay what’s left on the loan and split the rest.havent had it motorized yet.but it’s much cheaper than hiring a lawyer
Comment by Noreen C Henderson — June 7, 2019 @ 2:17 pm