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A person's Last Will and Testament, or
Will is a written declaration by the
person (testator) stating how his or her
estate is to be distributed upon death.
To reflect the importance of the Will
signing and avoid a challenge to the
validity of the Will, it is important
that the Will is properly signed before
witnesses and a notary in a formal Will
Execution Ceremony.
WILL
EXECUTION CEREMONY
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You and our estate planning
attorney will each proofread
the Will prior to the execution. Any
typographical errors should be
corrected and a new original
printed. |
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You and our estate planning
attorney should review the final
draft of the Will together, to
ensure that you understand the
Will. |
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Under typical circumstances, we
conduct the execution in our
offices to ensure a comfortable,
controlled environment without
any interruptions to the
ceremony. |
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To begin the ceremony, we gather
the testator, two to three
disinterested witnesses, a
notary, and our supervising
attorney. At this time, we will
introduce all of the
participants.
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TESTAMENTARY CAPACITY
To execute a Will in
the State of Texas,
you have to demonstrate testamentary
capacity. Under Texas law, testamentary
capacity means that the testator:
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understands
he or she is
executing a document disposing
of his or her
property upon death,
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understand the general nature
and extent of
his or her property,
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knows
the natural objects of
his or her bounty
(e.g., next of kin),
and |
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has
sufficient memory to collect in
his or her
mind each of these elements and
remember them long enough to
make reasonable judgment about
disposing of
his or her assets. |
To establish your capacity and your
wishes about disposing of your property,
we will ask you a series of questions,
including:
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What is your name? |
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Are you of sound mind and
either
at least
eighteen (18) years of age,
married or in the
military? |
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Have you read and do you
understand the Will? |
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Would you like to make any
additions, corrections, or other
changes to the Will? |
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Does the will dispose of your
property at your death according
to your wishes? |
Will
Execution PROCEDURES
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You and each witness should use
blue ink so that the original
may be easily distinguished form
a copy. |
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You should initial each page of
the Will, except the last page.
On the last page, you will sign
your full signature, and state
the date and location of the
Will execution. |
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Each witness will sign the
attestation clause and write his
or her address.
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Once the Will is signed, the
witnesses will execute the
Self-Proving Affidavit. The
notary will take the oath of the
testator and witnesses.
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The notary will asks you to
confirm that this is your Last
Will and Testament, you
willingly made and executed it,
and did so as your own free act
and deed. |
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The notary will ask the
witnesses to confirm that you
had declared the instrument to
be your Last Will and Testament,
you were of sound mind and at
least fourteen years of age at
the time of the execution, you
executed the Will before them as
witnesses, and each witness
signed the Will at your request. |
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The notary will sign and stamp
the affidavit, and record the
ceremony in the notary's record
book. |
SAFEKEEPING OF THE ORIGINAL AND COPIES
Once the Will is finally executed, we
will make multiple copies of your signed
will. Our attorneys will keep at least
one copy so that we may review it at a
later date to determine whether
revisions are advisable due to changes
in the law. We will discuss and
determine who should keep the signed
original of the Will.
CONTACT US
To
speak to an an
estate attorney about creating a
will, please
contact us
here or call us at
713.650.9700.
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