(1) A will that is executed with attesting witnesses 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, being first duly sworn, and do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as [his] [her] will and that [he] [she] signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for [him] [her]), and that [he] [she] executes it as [his] [her] free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that each of us, in the conscious presence of the testator, 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)
(2) A will that is executed with attesting witnesses 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 the 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] [she] had signed willingly (or willingly directed another to sign for [him] [her]), and that [he] [she] executed it as [his] [her] free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that each of the witnesses, in the conscious presence of the testator, signed the will as witness and that to the best of [his] [her] 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 day of , .
(SEAL)
(SIGNED)____________________________________
____________________________________
(Official capacity of officer)
(3) 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.
Source: L. 94: Entire part R&RE, p. 998, § 3, effective July 1, 1995. L. 2001: (2) amended, p. 887, § 3, effective June 1. L. 2009: (1) and (2) amended, (HB 09-1287), ch. 310, p. 1683, § 13, effective July 1, 2010.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 15-11-504 as it existed prior to 1995.
Cross references: For provisions relating to the time of taking effect or the provisions for transition of this code, see § 15-17-101.