Wyoming Estate Planning Basics

Wyoming estate planning comes down to four documents. A will says who inherits and whom you want raising your children. A financial power of attorney covers your money while you are alive but unable to act. An advance health care directive covers your medical decisions in the same situation. A revocable living trust is optional and sits on top of the rest.

Wyoming spreads this law across four titles of the Wyoming Statutes. Wills sit in Title 2, the state's own probate code, because Wyoming never adopted the Uniform Probate Code. The Uniform Power of Attorney Act sits in Title 3, Chapter 9. The Wyoming Uniform Trust Code is Title 4, Chapter 10. Medical decisions sit in Title 35, Chapter 22, Article 4, the Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act. Every section quoted below was read in the Wyoming Legislature's per-title files, created May 8, 2026, after that year's session. The Legislature meets every year, and most acts take effect on July 1.

This guide is the map. Each section states the Wyoming signing rule, then points at the deeper guide.

The Four Documents At A Glance

Document	What it controls	When it works	Wyoming signing rule
Will	Who inherits probate property, who serves as personal representative, whom you nominate as guardian of minor children	After death	Writing, your signature, and two competent witnesses, who may appear by video; or a will entirely in your handwriting (2-6-112, 2-6-113)
Financial power of attorney	Money, accounts, real estate, bills	While you are alive	Your signature; a notary makes the signature presumed genuine but is not required (3-9-105)
Advance health care directive	Medical decisions, including end-of-life care	While you are alive	An individual instruction may be oral or written; a health care power of attorney needs a notarial officer or two witnesses (35-22-403)
Revocable living trust	Only the assets you title into it	While alive and after death	Revocable unless the terms expressly say it is irrevocable (4-10-602)

1. A Wyoming Will

Who can sign one. W.S. 2-6-101 says any person of legal age and sound mind may make a will. Legal age is 18 under W.S. 14-1-101(a).

How you sign it. W.S. 2-6-112(a) asks for three things. The will is in writing or typewritten. You sign it, or some person signs it in your presence and by your express direction. And two competent witnesses witness it. Nothing in the section calls for a notary.

Witnesses can join by video. Since July 1, 2023, W.S. 2-6-112(b) lets witnesses appear in person or by audio-video communication technology, as long as they can see and hear you in real time, can judge your competency, can securely sign the will electronically, and can tell that you are signing freely and voluntarily. 2023 Senate File 99 added that subsection.

Keep gifts away from your witnesses. Under the same subsection (a), a subscribing witness takes no benefit under the will unless two other disinterested and competent witnesses also signed. A witness who would inherit without a will can still take that intestate share, up to the value of the gift. Pick two witnesses who get nothing under the will and the problem never arises.

Handwritten wills count. W.S. 2-6-113 makes a will that fails the witness rule valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if it is entirely in your handwriting and signed by your own hand. The word is entirely, so typed or preprinted text on the page puts the will outside that section.

Make it self-proving while you are at it. W.S. 2-6-114 lets you and your witnesses sign sworn statements before an officer authorized to administer oaths, at signing or at any later date. Under W.S. 2-6-204, a will signed that way is probated without further proof, so nobody has to track down your witnesses later.

Two tools that keep a will short. W.S. 2-6-124 lets a will refer to a dated written list, in your handwriting or signed by you, that leaves items of tangible personal property such as jewelry or tools. You can change the list later without re-signing the will. Money, securities and business property are excluded. And W.S. 2-6-103 lets a will leave property to the trustee of a trust already in writing when the will is signed, which is how a pour-over will works.

The full picture, including who may witness and how to revoke a will, is in making a Wyoming will.

2. A Financial Power Of Attorney

This document names an agent to handle money and property while you are alive. Wyoming's Uniform Power of Attorney Act took effect on January 1, 2018, and five of its rules decide most of what matters.

It is durable by default. W.S. 3-9-104(a) says a power of attorney created on or after the act's effective date is durable unless it expressly provides that your incapacity ends it. You add words to switch durability off, not to keep it on.

The notary is a presumption, not a requirement. W.S. 3-9-105 requires only that you sign, or that another person sign your name in your conscious presence at your direction. The second sentence says a signature acknowledged before a notary public or other person authorized to take acknowledgments is presumed genuine. Sign in front of a notary anyway. W.S. 3-9-119 protects a person who accepts an acknowledged power of attorney in good faith, which makes banks far more willing to honor one. And W.S. 34-1-104 lets the county clerk record a power to convey land only when it has been acknowledged.

It works now unless you say otherwise. W.S. 3-9-109(a) makes a power of attorney effective when signed unless it names a future date or event. If you make it springing on your incapacity and name nobody to decide that question, subsection (c) hands the decision to a physician or licensed psychologist, or to an attorney, a judge or an appropriate government official, in writing.

Some powers need to be spelled out. W.S. 3-9-201(a) lets an agent create, amend or revoke a trust, make a gift, create or change rights of survivorship, change a beneficiary designation, or disclaim property only if the power of attorney expressly grants that authority. A general grant does not reach them.

It can name your future guardian too. W.S. 3-9-108(a) lets you nominate a conservator of your estate or a guardian of your person in the power of attorney. The court follows your most recent nomination except for good cause or disqualification.

Two boundaries are worth memorizing. This document covers money, not medicine, because W.S. 3-9-103(a)(ii) takes a power to make health care decisions out of the act. And under W.S. 3-9-110(a)(i) it ends when you die, at which point a personal representative appointed by the district court takes over. The statutory form in W.S. 3-9-301 and the rest of the act are covered in a financial power of attorney.

3. An Advance Health Care Directive

Wyoming handles medical decisions under one statute, the Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act. W.S. 35-22-402 defines an advance health care directive as an individual instruction, a power of attorney for health care, or both.

The individual instruction. This is the closest thing Wyoming has to a living will. Under W.S. 35-22-403(a), an adult or emancipated minor may give an individual instruction about health care. It may be oral or written, and it may be limited to take effect only if a stated condition arises. Write it down anyway. A written instruction travels with you to every hospital, and a spoken one depends on who heard it.

The power of attorney for health care. W.S. 35-22-403(b) lets you name an agent to make any health care decision you could have made yourself. It must be in writing and signed by you or by another person in your presence at your direction. It keeps working after you lose capacity. And it must either be acknowledged before a notarial officer or be signed by at least two witnesses, each declaring under penalty of perjury that you signed or acknowledged the document in their presence.

Who cannot witness. W.S. 35-22-403(c) bars your treating health care provider or the provider's employee, the agent you name, and the operator or an employee of a community care facility or a residential care facility. The same subsection (b) bars an owner, operator or employee of a care facility where you are receiving care from serving as your agent, unless related to you by blood, marriage or adoption.

When the agent's authority starts. Unless your document says otherwise, W.S. 35-22-403(d) makes the agent's authority effective only after a determination that you lack capacity, and it ends when you recover. Subsection (h) lets a written directive nominate a guardian of your person.

If you sign nothing. W.S. 35-22-406(b) lets you name a surrogate by telling your health care provider in person. If you have not, the section suggests family members in descending order: your spouse unless legally separated, an adult child, a parent, a grandparent, an adult brother or sister, then an adult grandchild. After them comes an adult who has shown special care and concern for you. If members of one class disagree, subsection (e) has the provider follow the majority of those who spoke up. The deeper guide is an advance health care directive.

4. A Trust, When It Earns Its Place

A trust is an add-on, not a replacement. The Wyoming Uniform Trust Code sits in Title 4, Chapter 10, and four rules tell you most of what you need before deciding.

Capacity is the will standard. W.S. 4-10-601 says the capacity required to create, amend, revoke or add property to a revocable trust is the same as the capacity required to make a will. W.S. 4-10-403(a) adds the other creation requirements: an intention to create the trust, a definite beneficiary or one of the listed exceptions, duties for the trustee, and different people as sole trustee and sole beneficiary.

Revocable is the default. W.S. 4-10-602(a) lets you revoke or amend a trust unless its terms expressly say it is irrevocable. Subsection (e) lets your agent under a power of attorney revoke or amend the trust only if the trust or the power of attorney expressly allows it.

A trust holds only what you put in it. W.S. 4-10-402(a) says property transferred to a trust is titled in the trustee's name, the name of the trust, or the other forms it lists, and real property follows W.S. 34-2-122. An unfunded trust changes nothing at your death.

A trust does not hide assets from creditors. W.S. 4-10-506(a)(i) leaves the property of a revocable trust open to your creditors while you live. After death, subsection (d) makes the portion that was revocable answerable for your creditors, the costs of administering your estate and your funeral expenses, to the extent the probate estate cannot cover them.

One more date to know. W.S. 4-10-604(a) gives anyone who wants to contest a revocable trust the earlier of two years after your death or 120 days after the trustee sends a copy of the trust and a notice. Read a revocable living trust for the funding steps. If you want an animal cared for after you die, W.S. 4-10-409 authorizes a trust for the care of an animal alive during your lifetime, enforceable by a person the trust names, a trust advisor or a trust protector. Providing for a pet covers it.

Naming Guardians For Minor Children

A will is where you say whom you want raising your children, and Wyoming treats that wish as a priority rather than an appointment. W.S. 3-2-107(d) lists who has priority to serve as guardian of a minor: first the parent or parents, then the person nominated in the will of the custodial parent, then a person the minor asks for once the minor turns 14, then anyone else whose appointment serves the child's best interests.

Subsection (e) tells the court to consider those priorities without being bound by them and to appoint the person best qualified and willing to serve. So a nomination in your will still leads to a court case, but it puts your choice near the front of the line. Your own future guardian works the same way: W.S. 3-2-107(c)(i) puts first a person you nominated while you had the capacity to make a reasonably intelligent choice, and your financial power of attorney and health care directive are both places to make that nomination. Both routes are covered in naming a guardian.

The House Often Moves Outside The Will

Wyoming lets you pass real property with a recorded deed instead of a court case. W.S. 2-18-103(e) makes a transfer on death deed valid only if it is executed and recorded in the office of the county clerk in the county where the property sits before your death. A deed signed and left in a drawer transfers nothing.

Three other rules shape the choice. Subsection (m) says a will does not revoke a recorded transfer on death deed, so changing your will does not change the deed. Subsection (e) lets the deed name the trustee of your revocable trust as the beneficiary. And subsection (n) requires your beneficiary, after your death, to record an affidavit plus a certificate of clearance from the Wyoming Department of Health showing that any Medicaid claims are satisfied or do not exist.

Vehicles have their own version since July 1, 2025. W.S. 31-2-104.1 has each county clerk offer a beneficiary designation form, signed by every owner before a notary and recorded with the county clerk where the vehicle is titled. Avoiding probate in Wyoming compares the deed, the vehicle form, joint ownership and a trust, and the Wyoming transfer on death deed walks through the deed itself.

What Wyoming Decides If You Sign Nothing

Nobody escapes having a plan. Skipping the documents means Wyoming's defaults apply.

Your property. W.S. 2-4-101 splits the estate by family category. With a spouse and descendants, the spouse takes one-half and the children and descendants of children take the rest. With a spouse and no descendants, the spouse takes everything. See Wyoming intestate succession.
Your medical care. The surrogate list in W.S. 35-22-406(b) picks who decides.
Your money during incapacity. With no financial power of attorney, someone has to petition the district court for a conservatorship, which means a court case and continuing court supervision of your money.
Your children. With no nomination in a will, the court chooses from the W.S. 3-2-107(d) list.
Your estate's manager. The court appoints a personal representative from the statutory list rather than the person you would have named. Wyoming executor duties covers that job, and the Wyoming probate guide walks through the case itself.

Wyoming Charges No Estate Tax That Produces A Bill

Wyoming's estate tax statute is still on the books. W.S. 39-19-103(a) imposes a tax on the transfer of the Wyoming gross estate of every decedent, and subsection (b) sets it at the maximum state death tax credit allowed against the federal estate tax. That credit was 26 U.S.C. 2011, which the Office of the Law Revision Counsel now prints as repealed by Public Law 113-295 on December 19, 2014. A tax measured by a credit that no longer exists comes to zero, and Wyoming imposes no separate tax on what heirs receive.

The federal estate tax still applies to very large estates. Wyoming and the federal estate tax has the current federal threshold.

A Small Estate Is Still Worth Planning

Wyoming's affidavit route is generous, and people use it as a reason to sign nothing. Look at what it does. W.S. 2-1-201(a) lets a distributee collect by affidavit when the entire estate located in Wyoming subject to administration, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $400,000, when 30 days have passed since the death, and when no application to appoint a personal representative is pending or granted in Wyoming. That figure doubled from $200,000 on July 1, 2025.

The affidavit collects debts owed to the decedent, tangible personal property and instruments such as stock. Real property needs the separate W.S. 2-1-205 application to the district court for a decree of summary distribution. So the route cuts paperwork after a death and answers none of the questions a will, a power of attorney and a health care directive answer while you are alive. See the Wyoming small estate affidavit for the full test.

Where To Start

List what you own and how it is titled. Titling decides more than your will does. Joint accounts, retirement plans and life insurance pass by their own rules.
Decide the four people. Who inherits, who serves as personal representative, who handles your money during incapacity and who makes your medical calls.
Check your beneficiary designations. Retirement accounts and insurance policies follow the form on file, not your will.
Sign each document to Wyoming's rules. Two witnesses for the will, your signature before a notary for the financial power of attorney, and a notarial officer or two qualified witnesses for the health care power of attorney.
Decide about the house and the vehicles. A recorded transfer on death deed, a recorded vehicle beneficiary form, joint ownership or a funded trust each handle them differently.
Give copies to the people who need them. Your doctor needs the health care directive, and your agent needs your power of attorney. W.S. 2-6-119 requires whoever holds your will to deliver it within ten days after learning of your death, so tell someone where it is.
Review after any change. Marriage, a birth, a death, a move into or out of Wyoming, or a big change in what you own. Divorce matters most: W.S. 2-6-125 revokes revocable gifts to a former spouse and nominations of that spouse as personal representative, trustee, agent or guardian, and W.S. 3-9-110(b)(iii) ends a spouse-agent's authority once a divorce, annulment or legal separation action is filed, unless the power of attorney says otherwise.

When To Bring In A Wyoming Attorney

Handle a simple plan yourself if you like. Bring in a licensed Wyoming attorney when you have a blended family, a child with special needs, a business, a ranch or mineral interests, real property in more than one state, an estate near the federal exemption, or any reason to expect a fight. An attorney is also the right call if a family member is already losing capacity, because W.S. 2-6-101 and W.S. 4-10-601 measure capacity at the moment of signing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What documents does a Wyoming estate plan need?

Four, and the fourth is optional. A will decides who inherits your probate property, who serves as personal representative, and whom you nominate as guardian of your minor children. A financial power of attorney under the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, W.S. 3-9-101 and following, covers your money if you cannot act. An advance health care directive under the Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act, W.S. 35-22-401 and following, covers your medical decisions. A revocable living trust under the Wyoming Uniform Trust Code, Title 4, Chapter 10, sits on top of those when your situation calls for one.

How many witnesses does a Wyoming will need?

Two. W.S. 2-6-112(a) says a will must be in writing or typewritten, witnessed by two competent witnesses, and signed by the testator or by some person in his presence and by his express direction. Since July 1, 2023, subsection (b) lets the witnesses appear by audio-video communication technology. A will entirely in your own handwriting and signed by your own hand is valid under W.S. 2-6-113 whether or not anyone witnessed it.

Does a Wyoming financial power of attorney have to be notarized?

Not to be valid. W.S. 3-9-105 requires only that you sign it, or that another person sign your name in your conscious presence at your direction. A signature acknowledged before a notary public is presumed genuine, and W.S. 3-9-119 protects a person who accepts an acknowledged power of attorney in good faith, which is why banks expect one. A power of attorney used to convey land can be recorded with the county clerk only when acknowledged, under W.S. 34-1-104.

Does Wyoming have a living will?

Wyoming calls it an individual instruction. Under W.S. 35-22-403(a), an adult or emancipated minor may give an individual instruction about health care, orally or in writing, and may limit it to take effect only if a stated condition arises. A power of attorney for health care is the second half of the advance health care directive, and it must be in writing and either acknowledged before a notarial officer or signed by at least two witnesses.

Do I need a living trust in Wyoming?

Not usually, and a trust does not replace the other documents. Under W.S. 4-10-602(a), a trust is revocable unless its terms expressly provide that it is irrevocable, and it controls only the assets you title into it. W.S. 4-10-506(d) also makes property of a trust that was revocable at death answerable for your creditors, estate administration costs and funeral expenses when the probate estate falls short.

Does Wyoming charge an estate tax or an inheritance tax?

No tax that produces a bill. W.S. 39-19-103 still imposes a tax equal to the maximum state death tax credit allowed against the federal estate tax, but that credit lived in 26 U.S.C. 2011, which Congress repealed on December 19, 2014. A tax measured by a credit that no longer exists comes to zero. The federal estate tax still reaches very large estates.

Who makes my medical decisions in Wyoming if I sign nothing?

A surrogate. If no valid advance health care directive exists and no agent or guardian is reasonably available, W.S. 35-22-406(b) lists family members in descending order: your spouse unless legally separated, an adult child, a parent, a grandparent, an adult brother or sister, then an adult grandchild. If members of one class disagree, the health care provider follows the majority of those who communicated their views.

This guide is general information about Wyoming estate planning documents. Confirm anything that affects your own situation with a licensed Wyoming attorney before you sign, because these documents decide who controls your money, your medical care and your property.

Sources:

Title: W.S. 2-6-101, Right to make and dispose; exception. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 2-6-112, Will to be in writing; number and competency of witnesses; signature of testator; subscribing witness not to benefit; exception. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 2-6-113, Holographic will. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 2-6-114, Self-proving wills. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 2-6-103, Property passed may be governed by trust instrument; W.S. 2-6-119, Duty of custodian to deliver will; failure to comply; order to third persons; W.S. 2-6-124, Written statement referred to in will disposing of certain personal property. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 2-6-204, Proof; self-proving will. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 2-6-125, Revocation of probate and nonprobate transfers by divorce or annulment; effect; revival; other changes excluded. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 2-1-201, Payment of indebtedness and delivery of tangible personal property or instruments evidencing debt; W.S. 2-1-205, Summary procedure for distribution of personal or real property. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 2-4-101, Rule of descent; generally; dower and curtesy abolished. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 2-18-103, Transfer on death deed. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 2. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title02.pdf
Title: W.S. 3-9-103, Applicability; 3-9-104, Power of attorney is durable; 3-9-105, Execution of power of attorney; 3-9-108, Nomination of conservator or guardian; relation of agent to court appointed fiduciary; 3-9-109, When power of attorney effective; 3-9-110, Termination of power of attorney or agent's authority. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 3. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title03.pdf
Title: W.S. 3-9-119, Acceptance of and reliance upon acknowledged power of attorney; 3-9-201, Authority that requires specific grant; grant of general authority; 3-9-301, Statutory form power of attorney. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 3. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title03.pdf
Title: W.S. 3-2-107, Who may be appointed as guardian; preference for appointment of guardians. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 3. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title03.pdf
Title: W.S. 4-10-402, Title of trust property; 4-10-403, Requirements for creation; 4-10-409, Trust for care of animal. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 4. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title04.pdf
Title: W.S. 4-10-506, Creditor's claim against settlor; 4-10-601, Capacity of settlor of revocable trust; 4-10-602, Revocation or amendment of revocable trust; 4-10-604, Limitation on action contesting validity of revocable trust; distribution of trust property. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 4. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title04.pdf
Title: W.S. 14-1-101, Age of majority; rights on emancipation. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 14. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title14.pdf
Title: W.S. 31-2-104.1, Transfer of title upon death; beneficiary designation forms; definitions. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 31. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title31.pdf
Title: W.S. 34-1-104, Letters of attorney; recordation; effect as evidence. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 34. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title34.pdf
Title: W.S. 35-22-402, Definitions; 35-22-403, Advance health care directives; 35-22-406, Decisions by surrogate. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 35. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf
Title: W.S. 39-19-103, Imposition of tax. Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 39. Publication Date: 2026-05-08. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title39.pdf
Title: 26 U.S.C. 2011, Repealed. Publisher: Office of the Law Revision Counsel, United States Code. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title26-section2011&num=0&edition=prelim
Title: 2023 Senate File 99, Witnessing of wills-remote methods (Laws 2023, ch. 170, enrolled act). Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature. Publication Date: Signed 2023-03-09, effective 2023-07-01. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/2023/Enroll/SF0099.pdf
Title: 2025 Senate File 104, Probate code revisions (Laws 2025, ch. 168, enrolled act). Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature. Publication Date: Signed 2025-03-19, effective 2025-07-01. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/2025/Enroll/SF0104.pdf
Title: Enrolled Act No. 41, Senate, Uniform Power of Attorney Act (2017 SF0105, Laws 2017, ch. 117, effective January 1, 2018). Publisher: Wyoming State Legislature. Publication Date: 2017-03-02. URL: https://wyoleg.gov/2017/Enroll/SF0105.pdf

It is not legal advice.