The answer to that is, which is a pretty common attorney answer, is it depends.
So many people think that just kind of jotting down their wishes on a piece of paper is enough to create a valid will. And that is not necessarily true. So in general, states have pretty strict laws and formalities around what is required to create a valid will. You know, this generally is going to include things like witnesses and the proper signatures. A handwritten, otherwise known as a holographic will, is something that specifically is allowed in California. And so it may be accepted. It is something that can be valid if it’s generally all in the person’s own handwriting and it’s identified clearly as a will.
However, it’s very easy if someone tries to prepare a document like this to make mistakes in it. And it’s possible and probably likely that a document like that could be challenged. You know, wishes could be ignored entirely. So ultimately it really is best to work with an experienced estate planning attorney, you know, whether you’re talking about just creating a simple well whether it’s something more complicated like a living trust. You know, either way, you want to make sure that whatever your wishes are, that it’s going to be as thorough as possible, as kind of ironclad as possible, and not easily challenged or ignored.
So I hope that was helpful. We’ll see you on the next video.
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