What Is an Electronic Will?

Electronic wills (e-wills) are wills made and stored in electronic format. An e-will is signed electronically, and in some cases can dispense with the traditional need for the will maker and witnesses to be physically present in the same room when signing.

As electronically signed documents become widely accepted, state laws are beginning to anticipate a future in which e-wills—currently rare—are acknowledged and accommodated. Below is an overview of how state laws currently treat e-wills.

Can an Electronic Will Meet the Requirements of a Regular Will?

To understand e-will laws, it's necessary first to understand the requirements surrounding a traditional will. For a traditional will to be valid, the will maker must be an adult of sound mind, and the will must be:

1. made in writing (most traditional wills are typed on a computer, printed out, and signed in wet ink)
2. signed and dated by the will maker, and
3. signed by witnesses.

Almost all states require two witnesses, and most require that the witnesses be present to watch the will maker sign the will. Two states, Colorado and North Dakota, also allow notarization as an alternative to witnesses (in these states, the will maker may sign in front of a notary, rather than in front of witnesses).

Let's return to the three components of a traditional will, and see how an electronic will challenges these requirements:

1. In writing. When a will is created and stored on a computer, tablet, or cell phone, is it made "in writing"?
2. Signed and dated by will maker. Will e-signatures be accepted as signatures?
3. Signed by witnesses. What if the witnesses were observing the will maker sign the will by video chat, but were not physically in the same room? When a notary public is used during a will execution—either in the two states that allow it as an alternative to witnessing, or as part of the commonly included self-proving affidavit—the question of remote notarization comes into play as well. Does a notary public need to be physically present? (For more on this rapidly developing topic, see Remote Notarization: How to Notarize Documents Online.)

Answers to these questions are not uniform, as you'll see when delving into selected state laws, below.

Where Is an Electronic Will Valid?

Several states have ventured forward to explicitly allow e-wills in their statutes. The following states have enacted their own e-wills statutes:

• Nevada
• Indiana
• Arizona
• Florida
• Illinois
• Maryland

And other states have adopted a model law on e-wills called the Uniform Electronic Wills Act or EUWA (discussed further below). More states are sure to follow, but currently these states (and one district) are:

• Colorado
• Utah
• North Dakota
• Washington
• Washington, D.C.
• Idaho
• Minnesota

State laws on e-wills—particularly among the first category of states (that did not adopt the Uniform Electronic Wills Act)—vary widely. For example, some states allow remote witnessing of e-wills, while others require witnesses to be physically present. Some states won't allow an e-will to be self-proving (see the sidebar above) unless very exacting, hard-to-fulfill steps are taken regarding storing the will with a qualified custodian, while others are more lax.

Nevada

By far the earliest state to address e-wills, Nevada enacted legislation in 2001 and revised it substantially in 2017. The statute allows e-wills so long as they include at least one of the following:

• an "authentic characteristic" of the will maker (such as a fingerprint, retinal scan, voice recognition, facial recognition, or video recording)
• the electronic signature and electronic seal of an electronic notary public, or
• the electronic signatures of two or more witnesses. ( Rev. Stat. § 133.085.)

The witnesses are considered to be "present" while the will maker signs even if they are using audio-visual communication. (Nev. Rev. Stat. § 133.088.) However, Nevada does not allow the e-will to be made self-proving unless it is stored with a "qualified custodian"—for which there are elaborate requirements. (Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 133.300-340.)

Indiana

Indiana's e-will statute, which became effective in 2018, does not allow remote or virtual witnessing—it requires "actual" presence. On the other hand, Indiana's statute is more accommodating than Nevada's with respect to self-proving wills; e-wills can be made self-proving simply by incorporating a clause that is e-signed by the will maker and witnesses but does not have to be notarized. Indiana also does not require will makers to store their e-wills with a custodian. (Ind. Code Ann. § 29-1-21.)

Arizona

In 2019, Arizona amended its wills statute to allow e-wills. Arizona also requires the will maker and witnesses to be physically present in the same location, and the e-will must also include a copy of the will maker's government-issued ID. Like Nevada, the e-will can be made self-proving only if it is stored with a qualified custodian. (Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 14-2518 to 2523.)

Florida

Effective in 2020, Florida's wills statute recognizes e-wills as valid. (Fla. Stat. § 732.521.) It also allows remote online witnessing and notarization of wills via real-time, two-way audio-video communication. Notably, Florida has built into its laws a protection for vulnerable adults. If remote witnessing is used, the will maker must answer questions about whether the will maker is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, has a long-term disability that impairs daily living, or requires assistance with daily care. If the will maker answers yes to any of the questions, then the will ceremony must stop, and remote online witnessing is not an available option. (Fla. Stat. § 117.285.) An e-will can be self-proving in Florida only if it meets several requirements surrounding a qualified custodian. (Fla. Stat. § 733.524.)

Illinois

Illinois' e-wills statute became effective in the second half of 2021. Illinois allows remote witnessing of e-wills. Remote witnesses will need to make additional statements in order for the e-will to be self-proving, but there are no requirements for storing the will with a custodian. (755 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann. § 6/20-20.)

Maryland

Maryland, which adopted its e-wills statute in late 2021, allows remote witnesses of e-wills and does not have requirements for custodianship (storage) of the e-will. However, it does add an extra requirement for e-wills: after the parties have signed, the will maker or a supervising attorney must create a "certified will." The requirements are set out in Maryland's estates and trusts code. (Md. Code § 4-102.)

The Uniform Electronic Wills Act (UEWA) States

In 2019, the Uniform Laws Commission (a national organization of legal experts that drafts model laws) approved the Uniform Electronic Wills Act, discussed below. In late 2020 and 2021, Utah, Colorado, and North Dakota became the first states to adopt versions of this model law. Washington state followed in early 2022, and Idaho, the District of Columbia, and Minnesota in 2023.

More states are likely to adopt their own versions of the UEWA in the near future, so it's helpful to know the model law's take on e-wills. The UEWA requires an e-will to be "a record that is readable as text," so for the moment it precludes audio and video wills unless they are transcribed and then signed by the will maker. The model law is also designed to allow states to decide for themselves whether to allow remote witnessing, so states will likely continue to vary on this point.

The UEWA allows e-wills to be made self-proving, but only at the time the will is signed. (Currently, in some states, traditional wills can be made self-proving by having witnesses sign the affidavit sometime after the will signing.) Notably absent are any rules surrounding custodianship or storage of the e-will.

Remote Witnessing

During the COVID-19 pandemic—which gave rise to circumstances that urgently called for remote witnessing—several states temporarily relaxed the witnessing requirements for wills as an emergency measure. By now, these authorizations have mostly expired, but a few states have passed permanent remote witnessing laws as a result. For example, in 2023, Wyoming enacted legislation that allows witnesses to use audio-visual communication to watch the will signing, so long as they can see and hear in real time, can judge the will maker's mental competency, and can determine that the will maker is acting freely and voluntarily. (Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 2-6-112.)

Can I Create an Electronic Will Right Now?

In theory, it's certainly possible to create an e-will today that is valid in the states mentioned above. But a few obstacles stand in the way of e-wills becoming commonplace, even in the states that already allow it. First, the requirements surrounding custodianship of the will—in states like Nevada, Arizona, and Florida—are quite elaborate, and there's a notable lack of providers offering e-will storage that satisfies these requirements. Some critics have voiced concerns about what happens if an e-will storage facility shuts down.

Others have pointed to a lack of clarity surrounding what constitutes a revocation of an e-will (for example, whether you have revoked a will if you simply deleted it from your computer), the potential for fraudulent tampering with electronic wills, and the potential for undue influence when witnesses are not physically present and cannot see what's happening off-screen.

While many lawyers might be reluctant to rely on the new statutes to create e-wills just yet, it's clear that the laws have created more openings for wills that are created electronically or remotely witnessed. In any event, the laws surrounding e-wills are quickly evolving, and many believe it's only a matter of time before e-wills become commonplace.