633.279 - SIGNED AND WITNESSED.
633.279 SIGNED AND WITNESSED. 1. Formal execution. All wills and codicils, except as provided in section 633.283, to be valid, must be in writing, signed by the testator, or by some person in the testator's presence and by the testator's express direction writing the testator's name thereto, and declared by the testator to be the testator's will, and witnessed, at the testator's request, by two competent persons who signed as witnesses in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other; provided, however, that the validity of the execution of any will or instrument which was executed prior to January 1, 1964, shall be determined by the law in effect immediately prior to said date. 2. Self-proved will. An attested will may be made self-proved at the time of its execution, or at any subsequent date, by the acknowledgment thereof by the testator and the affidavits of the witnesses, each made before a person authorized to administer oaths and take acknowledgments under the laws of this state, and evidenced by such person's certificate, under seal, attached or annexed to the will, in form and content substantially as follows: Affidavit State of ...... ) County of ...... ) ss We, the undersigned, ........., ......... and ........., the testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument, being first duly sworn, declare to the undersigned authority that said instrument is the testator's will and that the testator willingly signed and executed such instrument, or expressly directed another to sign the same in the presence of the witnesses, as a free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed; that said witnesses, and each of them, declare to the undersigned authority that such will was executed and acknowledged by the testator as the testator's will in their presence and that they, in the testator's presence, at the testator's request, and in the presence of each other, did subscribe their names thereto as attesting witnesses on the date of the date of such will; and that the testator, at the time of the execution of such instrument, was of full age and of sound mind and that the witnesses were sixteen years of age or older and otherwise competent to be witnesses. ......... Testator ......... Witness ......... Witness Subscribed, sworn and acknowledged before me by ........, the testator; and subscribed and sworn before me by ....... and ......., witnesses, this ... day of ...... (month), ... (year) ............ Notary Public, or other officer (Seal) authorized to take and certify acknowledgments and administer oaths A self-proved will shall constitute proof of due execution of such instrument as required by section 633.293 and may be admitted to probate without testimony of witnesses.
Section History: Early Form [C51, § 1281; R60, § 2313; C73, § 2326; C97, § 3274; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 11852; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, § 633.7; C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 633.279]
Section History: Recent Form 2000 Acts, ch 1058, §56 Referred to in § 622.1