Section 45-2-504 - Self-proved will.

45-2-504. Self-proved will.

A.     A will may be simultaneously executed, attested and made self-proved by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which execution occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, in substantially the following form: 

 

"I, ________________________, the testator, sign my name to this instrument this ____________ day of ______________, and being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my will and that I sign it willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that I am eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence.

     _____________________________________

     Testator

 

We, ________________________, ________________________, the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument, and being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as his will and that he signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for him), and that each of us, in the presence of the testator, and in the presence of each other hereby signs this will as witness to the testator's signing, and that to the best of our knowledge the testator is eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence.

 

     _____________________________________

     Witness

     _____________________________________

     Witness

 

The State of ______________________  

County of ________________________  

 

Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by __________________, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before me by __________________ and __________________, witnesses, this ____________ day of ______________.  

(Seal)  

     Signed ______________________________ 

     _____________________________________

     (Official capacity of officer".

 

B.     An attested will may be made self-proved at any time after its execution by the acknowledgment thereof by the testator and the affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which the acknowledgment occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, attached or annexed to the will in substantially the following form:  

 

"The State of ______________________  

County of ________________________  

 

We, __________________, __________________ and __________________, the testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument, being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signed and executed the instrument as the testator's will and that he signed willingly (or willingly directed another to sign for him), and that he executed it as his free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that each of the witnesses, in the presence of the testator, and in the presence of each other signed the will as witness, and that to the best of our knowledge the testator was at that time eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence.  

     _____________________________________

     Testator

     _____________________________________

     Witness

     _____________________________________

     Witness

 

Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by __________________, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before me by __________________ and __________________, witnesses, this ____________ of ______________.  

(Seal)  

     Signed ______________________________ 

     _____________________________________

     (Official capacity of officer".

 

C.     A signature affixed to a self-proving affidavit attached to a will is considered a signature affixed to the will if necessary to prove the will's due execution.