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Massachusetts Will Requirements
Pillar GuideMassachusetts15 min read

Massachusetts Will Requirements

Massachusetts will requirements under c. 190B: age 18, sound mind, a signed writing, two witnesses, no handwritten wills, and a self-proving affidavit.

By Settled Editorial

Massachusetts will requirements sit in chapter 190B, the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code, and the answer is short. The person making the will (the testator) must be 18 or older and of sound mind. The will must be in writing, signed by the testator, and signed by at least two witnesses. Massachusetts does not accept a handwritten will with no witnesses, and it lets you add a self-proving affidavit so the witnesses do not have to testify later.

Read this page as a planning map, not as legal advice or a do-it-yourself signing kit. Massachusetts applies these sections to the facts of each will, and one signing slip can put a will at risk here more than in most states. When real estate, a blended family, or a likely dispute is in play, confirm your plan with a licensed Massachusetts attorney before you sign.

This guide pairs with the Massachusetts probate guide for what happens after death, and with Massachusetts intestate succession for who inherits when no valid will exists.

Who Can Make a Will in Massachusetts

The capacity rule is one sentence. Under M.G.L. c. 190B § 2-501, an individual 18 or more years of age who is of sound mind may make a will.

Two conditions, then:

  • Age 18. Section 2-501 sets one age and prints no exception. Several states let a legally emancipated minor sign a will. The Massachusetts section does not carry that option.
  • Sound mind. The maker must understand, in a general way, that the document is a will, what property is in play, and who would ordinarily inherit it.

Capacity is measured at the moment of signing. A later illness does not undo a will made while the testator understood what they were doing, and a person whose condition rises and falls can sign during a clear stretch.

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How to Sign a Valid Will in Massachusetts

For the typed will nearly everyone uses, § 2-502 sets three linked requirements.

  1. In writing. The will has to be a written document.
  2. Signed by the testator. The testator signs, or another individual signs the testator's name in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction.
  3. Signed by at least two witnesses. Each of the two must have witnessed either the signing described above or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature or of the will.

A Massachusetts will does not need a notary to be valid. Section 2-502 never mentions one. The notary appears only in the optional self-proving affidavit covered below, so a signed writing with two witnesses stands on its own.

Read the witness rule closely, because the statute is quieter than people expect. Section 2-502 does not say the two witnesses must sign in each other's presence, and it fixes no deadline for their signatures. Even so, gather the testator and both witnesses in one room and sign in one sitting. That removes every later argument about who saw what and when.

One more thing to add at the signing: an attestation clause. Under § 3-303, a will that appears to carry the required signatures and contains an attestation clause showing the section 2-502 requirements were met shall be probated without further proof in an informal proceeding. A one-paragraph clause reciting what the witnesses saw is the cheapest thing you can do for the person who files the will.

Massachusetts Does Not Accept Handwritten Wills

A holographic will is a will in the testator's own handwriting with no attesting witnesses. Massachusetts does not allow one.

Here is why. Part 5 of Article 2, the wills part of chapter 190B, runs from section 2-501 through section 2-517, and no section in it creates a holographic will. Section 2-502 demands two witnesses and writes no exception for a document in the testator's own hand. So a handwritten page signed at a kitchen table in Boston, with no witnesses, is not a Massachusetts will no matter how clear the writing is.

The single route by which a handwritten unwitnessed will is honored here is the choice-of-law section, and it is broader than where the will was signed. § 2-506 also validates a will that complied with the law of the place where the testator was domiciled, had a place of abode, or was a national, measured at execution or at death. That rule is next but one.

Section 2-503 Is Reserved, So a Signing Mistake Is Not Forgiven

Many states let a judge excuse a signing defect when the evidence clearly shows what the person wanted. The uniform act puts that harmless-error rule at section 2-503. Massachusetts prints one word at § 2-503: Reserved.

Nothing else in chapter 190B fills the gap. A will that misses a section 2-502 step, one witness instead of two or an unsigned page, cannot be rescued by proving that the testator meant it. This is the reason a Massachusetts signing deserves more care than a signing in a harmless-error state.

Do not confuse this with section 2-502(b), which says intent that the document constitute the testator's will can be established by extrinsic evidence. That subsection answers whether a signed, witnessed paper was meant as a will. It does not manufacture a missing witness.

Self-Proving a Massachusetts Will

Massachusetts lets you make a will self-proved, and § 2-504 gives two paths.

  • At the signing. The will can be executed, attested, and made self-proved in one sitting, using the testator's acknowledgment and the witnesses' affidavits, each taken before an officer authorized to administer oaths where the signing happens, with that officer's certificate under official seal. Section 2-504(a) prints the wording to follow.
  • Any time afterward. An already-attested will can be made self-proved later, with the testator and the witnesses swearing to a second affidavit before an officer. Section 2-504(b) prints that wording too.

What does the affidavit buy? Look at § 3-406. If a will is contested and it is not self-proved, and evidence about execution is necessary, testimony from at least one attesting witness is required when that witness is within the commonwealth, competent, and able to testify. The same section adds that due execution may be proved by other evidence, so a missing witness does not end the matter. If the will is self-proved, compliance with the signature and execution requirements is presumed on the filing alone, with no witness testimony, subject to rebuttal and unless there is proof of fraud or forgery touching the acknowledgment or affidavit.

Section 2-504(c) adds a quiet backstop: a signature on a self-proving affidavit attached to a will counts as a signature on the will itself if that is what it takes to prove due execution.

The affidavit is optional. A will signed under section 2-502 is valid without it. Adding one costs a notary visit and can save the family a hunt for two witnesses years later.

A Witness Who Inherits Can Lose the Gift

Massachusetts parts company with most Uniform Probate Code states here, so read § 2-505 carefully.

Subsection (a) is permissive: an individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will.

Subsection (b) is where the trap sits. Signing by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it. A devise to that witness, or to the witness's spouse, is void unless one of two things is true:

  • there are two other subscribing witnesses to the will who are not similarly benefited, or
  • the interested witness establishes that the bequest was not inserted, and the will was not signed, because of fraud or undue influence by that witness.

So the will survives and the gift may not. Notice how far the rule reaches: it voids a gift to the spouse of a witness, which catches the common setup where a child witnesses the will and that child's husband or wife is a named beneficiary.

The fix is simple. Use two witnesses who inherit nothing and who are married to nobody who inherits. If a beneficiary already signed, the gift survives where there are 2 other subscribing witnesses who are not similarly benefited, so on the usual two-witness will one more disinterested subscribing witness is enough, and it also survives if the interested witness carries the statute's second escape route. Neither is a fight worth inviting. Two disinterested witnesses at the start avoid it entirely.

Wills Signed in Another State

Moving to Massachusetts does not void the will you signed somewhere else. Under § 2-506, a written will is valid here if it was executed in compliance with section 2-502, or if its execution complied with the law of the place where the will was signed, or the law of the place where the testator was domiciled, had a place of abode, or was a national, measured either at signing or at death.

That is broad, and it is the one door a handwritten will can walk through. A holographic will signed in a state that accepts holographic wills, by someone living there at the time, can be honored in Massachusetts under section 2-506 even though the same document signed in Massachusetts would fail.

Still, review any out-of-state will after you move. Consider re-signing it under section 2-502 with a self-proving affidavit and a Massachusetts attestation clause, so the Probate and Family Court sees a document that matches the statute it applies every day.

Revoking or Changing a Massachusetts Will

Section 2-507 gives two ways to undo a will.

  • A later document. A subsequent will revokes an earlier one expressly or by inconsistency. Put a plain revocation line in every new will so nobody has to argue about it.
  • A revocatory act. Burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying the will revokes it when the testator does the act intending to revoke. Someone else can perform the act in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction.

Two reading rules follow. A later will that makes a complete disposition of the estate is presumed to replace the earlier one, so only the newer will operates. A later will that does not dispose of everything is presumed to supplement the earlier one, and both stay operative except where they clash.

Section 2-508 then says a change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it, apart from three named sections: section 2-301 (a spouse who married the testator after the will was signed), section 2-803 (the slayer rule), and section 2-804 (divorce or annulment, which revokes gifts, powers, and fiduciary nominations in favor of the former spouse and the former spouse's relatives, and severs joint tenancies between the former spouses).

Tearing up a newer will does not automatically bring the older one back. Under § 2-509, a previous will that was wholly revoked stays revoked unless the circumstances or the testator's statements show an intent to revive it. If you want an earlier plan back, sign a new will that says so.

Documents That Travel With a Massachusetts Will

Three sections let a will reach beyond its own pages, and two of them save real money.

  • A tangible property list. Section 2-513 lets a will point to a separate signed writing that hands out items of tangible personal property, other than money, that the will did not already give away. The list has to describe the items and the people with reasonable certainty. You can write it before or after the will, and you can change it later without a new signing ceremony. Use it for jewelry, tools, and furniture instead of amending the will every time you change your mind.
  • Incorporation by reference. Section 2-510 pulls in an outside writing only if that writing already existed when the will was signed and the will describes it well enough to identify. A document created afterward does not qualify.
  • A no-contest clause. Section 2-517 says a provision penalizing an interested person for contesting the will or starting other proceedings about the estate is enforceable. The section states no exception on its face. Ask a Massachusetts attorney how one of these clauses would land on your facts before you add it. The grounds to contest a Massachusetts will show what a challenger would have to prove, and who has standing to try.

Storing the Will and What Happens After a Death

You can hand the original to a court while you are alive. Under § 2-515, a testator or the testator's agent may deposit a will with any court for safekeeping. The court seals it, keeps it confidential, and releases it during your lifetime only to you or to someone you authorized in writing.

After a death, the clock starts. Under § 2-516, whoever has custody of the will must deliver it within thirty days after learning of the death, to a person able to secure its probate, or to an appropriate court if no such person is known. Someone who willfully fails to deliver a will is liable to anyone harmed by the failure, and refusing after a court order brings a contempt penalty.

Keep the original findable, and tell your personal representative where it is. Informal probate under section 3-303 asks whether an original, duly executed, apparently unrevoked will is in the court's possession, so a lost original turns an easy filing into a harder one. The Massachusetts executor duties guide walks through what that person does once the will is filed.

What This Means for Your Plan

A Massachusetts will that holds up usually looks like this:

  1. Check that the testator is 18 or older and of sound mind.
  2. Put the will in writing and have the testator sign it.
  3. Have two witnesses sign, and pick two people who inherit nothing and whose spouses inherit nothing.
  4. Add an attestation clause so informal probate can go forward without extra proof.
  5. Add a self-proving affidavit under section 2-504 before a notary, in the same sitting if you can.
  6. Store the original where your personal representative can reach it, or deposit it with the court under section 2-515.

A will is one document in a wider plan. Pair it with the lifetime documents in the Massachusetts power of attorney guide and the Massachusetts health care proxy guide, and compare it against the transfers that skip court in the Massachusetts guide to avoiding probate. For how those pieces sit together, and what belongs in the rest of a Massachusetts estate plan, start with the planning overview.

This page is general information about Massachusetts wills. Verify anything that touches your own situation with the Register of Probate for your county or a licensed Massachusetts attorney before you sign or rely on a will.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

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Settled Estate is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

Information current as of July 29, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Massachusetts can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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