Last Will and Testament in California

California is one of the few states with an official fill-in-the-blanks will form — the California Statutory Will, printed inside Probate Code § 6240. You fill in the blanks, date it, and have two witnesses sign; no notary is involved. The form's own instructions say not to add or cross out any words.

Last reviewed against current law: 2026-09-15

How California law treats last will and testament

If you are looking for a California will form, there is an official one and it is free. Probate Code § 6240 prints the California Statutory Will inside the statute itself — a fill-in-the-blanks document the Legislature wrote. Section 6220 sets who may use it: any individual of sound mind and over the age of 18. The form adds that it is designed only for California residents, and that you may use it whether you are single, married, in a registered domestic partnership, or divorced. County law libraries publish it as a PDF. Nobody owns it and nobody sells it.

Signing it is three steps, set out in the form's instructions and in § 6221: read the whole will, fill in the blanks, then date it and have two witnesses sign. Section 6110(c)(1) is where the witness rule actually lives — at least two people, present at the same time, who watch you sign or hear you acknowledge the signature, and who understand the document is your will. On notaries the form is blunt: "You do not need to have this document notarized. Notarization will not fulfill the witness requirement." Pick witnesses who inherit nothing under the will. Section 6112(c) creates a presumption that a witness who receives a gift procured it by duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence, unless at least two other subscribing witnesses were disinterested.

The blanks cover a narrow, fixed set of choices. Paragraph 1 revokes every earlier will and codicil. Paragraph 2 is an optional gift of your personal residence and paragraph 3 an optional gift of automobiles, household items, and personal effects — each offering the same four pre-written choices. Paragraph 5 disposes of the balance of your assets. The remaining blanks name a guardian for children under 18, a custodian to hold a young beneficiary's share until an age you choose between 18 and 25, an executor, and whether that executor posts a bond. One quiet rule sits in the form's own Q&A: a beneficiary has to survive you by 120 hours to take a gift.

Two traps on this form make gifts disappear, and they are why a filled-in free PDF fails more often than people expect. The first is § 6224. If more than one property-disposition choice is selected in paragraph 2 or paragraph 3, "no gift is made" — the gift is simply gone. If more than one choice, or no choice at all, is marked in paragraph 5, the balance of your estate goes to your heirs as though you had left no will. Ticking two boxes to be safe is the single worst thing you can do on this document. The second trap is the instruction "Do not add any words to the Will (except for filling in blanks) or cross out any words." Question 9 of the form explains the stakes: if you do, "the Will may be invalid or the court may ignore the crossed out or added words." Section 6226(b) leaves a narrow way back — an alteration outside the instructions can still take effect, but only where someone shows by clear and convincing evidence that you intended it.

The form also tells you when to walk away from it. Question 8 lists what it was not built for: assets worth more than $600,000 — the figure printed in the form — or more than the current federal estate-tax exclusion, business assets, wanting a trust fund for a child's education, property in another state, leaving a spouse, domestic partner, or descendant out, and valuable pension or profit-sharing interests. Question 20 is flatter still: "Trusts are too complicated to be used in this Statutory Will." Stepchildren and foster children you have not adopted are called out as their own reason to get help. The domestic-partner choices only work if you have filed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the California Secretary of State — a partnership registered anywhere else does not meet the definition. And under the form's Q&A, divorce, annulment, or ending a registered domestic partnership automatically cancels the property this will leaves to a former spouse or partner and revokes their appointment as executor, custodian, or guardian.

The statutory will is one of three California routes. A typed will signed in front of two witnesses under § 6110 is the flexible version — the same signing formalities, no limit on what the document can say. A holographic will under § 6111 needs no witnesses at all, but the gifts and the signature have to be in your own handwriting. The statutory will sits between them: free, hard to get wrong on formalities, and rigid on substance. Whichever route you take, § 8220 is worth knowing — unless someone contests the will, it can be proved on the evidence of one subscribing witness, and by an affidavit in the original will that includes or incorporates the attestation clause.

That is also the honest answer to "free California will template". Most download sites hand you a generic last will and testament written to no particular state's rules and leave the signing to you, and signing is where California wills actually come apart. The statutory form closes that gap, at the price of only letting you say what the Legislature already wrote. If your situation fits inside those blanks, print it from a county law library and sign it in front of two disinterested witnesses. If it does not — a trust for a young beneficiary, a business, out-of-state property, a blended family — what fits is a document drafted around your facts, with California's § 6110 signing steps attached to it.

Primary sources

Frequently asked questions — California

Is there a free California last will and testament form?▾

Yes. The California Statutory Will is printed inside Probate Code § 6240, so the text is public law rather than a commercial template, and county law libraries publish it as a free PDF. It is a fill-in-the-blanks form with a fixed set of choices — you complete the blanks, date it, and have two witnesses sign.

What is the California Statutory Will?▾

A short will form written into the Probate Code at § 6240. Under § 6220 any individual of sound mind and over the age of 18 may use it, and the form states it is designed only for California residents. It revokes earlier wills, offers optional gifts of your residence and personal effects, disposes of the balance of your assets, and names a guardian, a custodian for a young beneficiary, and an executor.

Does a California will have to be notarized?▾

No. The statutory will form says it directly: "You do not need to have this document notarized. Notarization will not fulfill the witness requirement." What matters under Probate Code § 6110(c)(1) is two witnesses, present at the same time, who see you sign or hear you acknowledge the signature and who understand the document is your will.

Can I change the wording on the California Statutory Will?▾

The form asks you not to: "Do not add any words to the Will (except for filling in blanks) or cross out any words." Its own Q&A warns that if you do, the will may be invalid or a court may ignore the added or crossed-out words. Section 6226(b) allows an alteration to take effect only where someone proves by clear and convincing evidence that you intended it. You can still amend the will later by a separate codicil.

What happens if I tick two choices on the California Statutory Will?▾

The gift fails. Under Probate Code § 6224, selecting more than one property-disposition clause in paragraph 2 or paragraph 3 means "no gift is made". If more than one choice, or none, is marked in paragraph 5, the balance of your estate passes to your heirs as though you had left no will at all. One box per paragraph.

Who should not use the California Statutory Will?▾

The form answers this itself at question 8: people with assets above $600,000 — the figure printed in the form — or above the current federal estate-tax exclusion, business assets, out-of-state property, valuable pension or profit-sharing interests, anyone wanting a trust fund for a child, and anyone leaving out a spouse, domestic partner, or descendant. Question 20 adds that "trusts are too complicated to be used in this Statutory Will", and stepchildren or foster children you have not adopted are flagged as a reason to get help.

Is a handwritten will an alternative in California?▾

Yes, under a different statute. Probate Code § 6111 recognizes a holographic will with no witnesses at all, as long as the gifts and the signature are in your own handwriting. It trades the witness step for a harder proof at probate, where the handwriting has to be established.