Is a Handwritten Will Legal in Texas?

Estate, Trust & Fiduciary Litigation | Langley & Banack | San Antonio, Texas

After a loved one dies, families sometimes find a will that was written out by hand, on a notepad, a legal form, even a napkin. Is it a valid will? In Texas, a handwritten will, called a holographic will, can be completely valid. But there are limits, and one common mistake can invalidate it entirely. Below, Langley & Banack shareholders Chris Hodge and Jobe Jackson explain what Texas law requires for a handwritten will.

On this page

• Is a handwritten will legal in Texas?
• Can you just write your will on a piece of paper in Texas?
• Does a handwritten will have to be dated or witnessed in Texas?
• Can a will be part typed and part handwritten in Texas?
• What happens to a will that mixes typed and handwritten text?

Is a handwritten will legal in Texas?

Yes. A will written entirely in the person’s own handwriting, known as a holographic will, can be valid in Texas. Unlike a typewritten will, a holographic will does not have to be witnessed. It just has to be wholly in the person’s handwriting and signed.

Texas law allows for someone to handwrite their will, and in Texas we call that a holographic will. The legislature is pretty clear that it does not require much. The Estates Code provides that a will written wholly, meaning entirely, in the testator’s handwriting is not required to be attested by subscribing witnesses, and it is valid. So unlike a typewritten will, which you probably had prepared by an attorney and where you have two witnesses who have to be in the room when the testator signs it, a handwritten will does not have to be witnessed. It just needs to be signed. That is all the Estates Code requires for it to be valid and enforceable.

Can you just write your will on a piece of paper in Texas?

Yes. Because Texas is lenient about handwritten wills, one can be written on almost anything, including a notebook, a scratch piece of paper, or the classic example of a napkin in a restaurant. That is one reason why you should never throw away a deceased person’s papers without looking through them.

Given the leniency in Texas for the requirements of a handwritten will, a holographic will could be on almost anything. The stereotypical example is someone who writes their last will on a napkin in a restaurant. That can be effective. But if you are searching through a deceased person’s possessions to locate a will, a holographic will could be written in a notebook, or just on a scratch piece of paper. Do not just think, here is a box of old papers, we will throw those away. There could be a will in there.

Does a handwritten will have to be dated or witnessed in Texas?

No. A valid holographic will in Texas does not have to be dated and does not have to be witnessed. It only has to be written wholly in the person’s own handwriting and signed by them.

This is where a handwritten will differs from a typewritten one. A handwritten will does not have to be dated, does not have to be witnessed, it just needs to be signed. Texas has also been lenient about what counts as a signature. Other Texas cases have held that an X by the testator, if they intended it as their signature, can be valid, and someone who used a stamp to sign things during their life may have validly signed that way too. The core requirement is that the document is wholly in the person’s handwriting and that they signed it.

Can a will be part typed and part handwritten in Texas?

No. Texas law is clear that you cannot have a mixed typed and handwritten will. A will has to be either wholly in the person’s handwriting to be a valid holographic will, or a properly witnessed typewritten will. A document that combines both can fail as neither.

Texas law is pretty clear that you cannot have a mixed written and typed will. That matters because filling in the blanks on a printed form is one of the most common mistakes we see. If the typed words are part of what the will says, the document is not wholly in the person’s handwriting, so it does not qualify as a holographic will, and if it was not signed and witnessed like a typewritten will, it does not qualify as that either.

What happens to a will that mixes typed and handwritten text?

It can be denied probate entirely. If a document is neither wholly handwritten nor a properly witnessed typewritten will, a Texas court may refuse to admit it, and the estate can pass as if there were no will at all.

We have had a situation in our practice where someone had gone onto the internet and printed off what appeared to be a form of a will. Within that form, wherever they were going to fill in something, for instance who was going to get the property, who was going to be executor, or where they lived, they just wrote it in by hand. That will was denied probate, because it was not wholly in the handwriting of the person to be a valid holographic will, and it was not a valid typewritten will either. So it is important to know the distinction when you are looking for a will after someone has died, and to understand what it can mean for the estate.