Free Virginia Last Will and Testament
Build a complete Virginia will in minutes — free, no account. Fill in your details and download a ready-to-sign PDF with the protective clauses built in and Virginia's correct signing requirements.
A free, ready-to-sign will — but not legal advice.
This builds a complete Virginia will with the protective clauses most templates skip (survivorship period, residuary, minor's trust, executor powers). It becomes legally valid only when you sign it correctly (see the signing steps below). For a large or blended estate, have an attorney review it. RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm.
About you
Children
Name all your children, even any you are not leaving anything to — naming them prevents an 'omitted child' claim.
Who inherits everything else (your residuary estate)
The catch-all gift of everything not specifically given. Shares should total 100%.
Specific gifts (optional)
Particular items or sums to particular people.
Executor (the person who carries out your will)
Options
Naming them states the omission is intentional. Note: you generally cannot fully disinherit a spouse (see the warnings).
Before you sign — Virginia notes
Choose 2 witnesses who are adults and who do NOT inherit under this Will. A beneficiary (or a beneficiary's spouse) should never witness your Will.
Add at least one residuary beneficiary with a share above 0%. Without a residuary gift, everything not specifically given would pass by intestacy (state default rules), defeating the point of the Will.
To make this Will valid in Virginia: A valid Virginia attested will must be in writing and signed by the testator (or by another in the testator's presence and at the testator's direction) in a manner showing the name is intended as a signature; and, unless wholly handwritten, the testator's signature must be made or the will acknowledged in the presence of at least two competent witnesses present at the same time, who then subscribe the will in the testator's presence (Va. Code § 64.2-403). Notarization is not required for validity. To make the will self-proving, the testator and witnesses execute the § 64.2-452 certificate before an officer authorized to administer oaths. Virginia also recognizes wholly handwritten (holographic) wills, validated at probate by two disinterested witnesses to the handwriting (§ 64.2-403(B)).
This is a do-it-yourself Will for a straightforward estate. If you have a large or blended estate, business interests, tax concerns, a special-needs beneficiary, or want to disinherit close family, have an attorney review it. This is not legal advice and RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm.
Or email yourself a copy (PDF)
Last Will and Testament of [YOUR FULL NAME]
ARTICLE I — DECLARATION
I, [YOUR FULL NAME], a resident of [CITY], [COUNTY] County, Virginia, being of full legal age to make a will and of sound mind and memory, declare this to be my Last Will and Testament, and I revoke all wills and codicils I have previously made.
ARTICLE II — FAMILY
I am not married.
If I have not named or provided for a child or other descendant in this Will, that omission is intentional and not the result of accident or mistake.
ARTICLE III — PAYMENT OF DEBTS, EXPENSES, AND TAXES
I direct my Executor to pay my legally enforceable debts, the expenses of my last illness and funeral, the costs of administering my estate, and any estate or inheritance taxes payable by reason of my death, out of the residue of my estate, without apportionment.
ARTICLE IV — TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY
I give my tangible personal property (household goods, furniture, vehicles, jewelry, collections, and personal effects not otherwise specifically given) to my residuary beneficiaries as they agree, or as my Executor determines if they cannot agree.
I may leave a separate written memorandum, signed and dated by me, disposing of items of tangible personal property. Virginia law allows such a memorandum to be given effect, and I direct my Executor to honor the most recent such memorandum I leave.
ARTICLE V — RESIDUARY ESTATE
I give all the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate to [RESIDUARY BENEFICIARY].
If no beneficiary named in this article survives me, my residuary estate shall pass to my heirs at law under the intestacy laws of my state.
ARTICLE VI — SURVIVORSHIP
Except as otherwise provided, a beneficiary must survive me by 30 days to receive any gift under this Will. A beneficiary who does not survive me by 30 days shall be treated as having predeceased me. This protects my estate from passing through the estate of a beneficiary who dies shortly after me.
ARTICLE VII — APPOINTMENT OF EXECUTOR
I nominate [EXECUTOR NAME] as Executor of this Will.
I direct that my Executor serve without bond and, to the fullest extent allowed by law, without court supervision (independent administration). My Executor shall have all powers granted to executors and personal representatives under the law of my state, including the power to sell, lease, invest, and distribute estate property, to pay debts and taxes, and to settle claims, all without prior court approval, as my Executor deems to be in the best interest of my estate.
ARTICLE VIII — DIGITAL ASSETS
I authorize my Executor to access, manage, distribute, and dispose of my digital assets and electronic communications, and to act as my fiduciary under the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (or its equivalent in my state), with full authority to consent to a custodian's disclosure of the content and records of my electronic communications and accounts.
ARTICLE IX — SIMULTANEOUS DEATH
If any beneficiary and I die under circumstances in which the order of our deaths cannot be established, that beneficiary shall be deemed to have predeceased me. If my spouse and I die under such circumstances, my spouse shall be deemed to have predeceased me.
ARTICLE X — GENERAL PROVISIONS
This Will shall be governed by the laws of the State of Virginia.
If any provision of this Will is held invalid, the remaining provisions shall remain in full effect. Words of one gender include the other, and the singular includes the plural, as the context requires. The headings are for convenience only and do not affect the meaning of this Will.
EXECUTION
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I sign this Will, consisting of the foregoing pages, on this _____ day of ____________, 20____, at [CITY], Virginia.
____________________________________
[YOUR FULL NAME], Testator
ATTESTATION — The foregoing instrument was signed by the Testator and declared to be the Testator's Will in our presence, and we, at the Testator's request and in the Testator's presence and in the presence of each other, sign below as witnesses, believing the Testator to be of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence.
Witness 1: ____________________________ Address: ____________________________
Witness 2: ____________________________ Address: ____________________________
SELF-PROVING AFFIDAVIT (Va. Code § 64.2-452) — sign this part before a notary to make probate easier:
Virginia prescribes a statutory self-proving certificate (Va. Code § 64.2-452), substantially as follows:
"STATE OF VIRGINIA, COUNTY/CITY OF _______.
Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared [TESTATOR], [WITNESS 1], and [WITNESS 2], known to me to be the testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument and, all of these persons being by me first duly sworn, [TESTATOR], the testator, declared to me and to the witnesses in my presence that said instrument is his last will and testament and that he had willingly signed or directed another to sign the same for him, and executed it in the presence of said witnesses as his free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed; that said witnesses stated before me that the foregoing will was executed and acknowledged by the testator as his last will and testament in the presence of said witnesses who, in his presence and at his request, and in the presence of each other, did subscribe their names thereto as attesting witnesses on the day of the date of said will, and that the testator, at the time of the execution of said will, was over the age of eighteen years and of sound and disposing mind and memory.
______________________ Testator
______________________ Witness
______________________ Witness
Subscribed, sworn and acknowledged before me by [TESTATOR], the testator, and subscribed and sworn before me by [WITNESS 1] and [WITNESS 2], witnesses, this ___ day of ____, A.D., ____.
SIGNED ______________________
______________________ (OFFICIAL CAPACITY OF OFFICER)"
How to Sign Your Will in Virginia
A valid Virginia attested will must be in writing and signed by the testator (or by another in the testator's presence and at the testator's direction) in a manner showing the name is intended as a signature; and, unless wholly handwritten, the testator's signature must be made or the will acknowledged in the presence of at least two competent witnesses present at the same time, who then subscribe the will in the testator's presence (Va. Code § 64.2-403). Notarization is not required for validity. To make the will self-proving, the testator and witnesses execute the § 64.2-452 certificate before an officer authorized to administer oaths. Virginia also recognizes wholly handwritten (holographic) wills, validated at probate by two disinterested witnesses to the handwriting (§ 64.2-403(B)).
Virginia requires 2 witnesses: For a will not wholly in the testator's handwriting: the testator's signature must be made, or the will acknowledged by the testator, in the presence of at least two competent witnesses who are present at the same time, and who subscribe the will in the presence of the testator. No particular form of attestation is necessary (Va. Code § 64.2-403(C)).. Your will does not need to be notarized to be valid.
Choose witnesses who are adults and who do not inherit under your will. A beneficiary should never witness your will. Then sign the self-proving affidavit (Va. Code § 64.2-452) in front of a notary. That sworn statement lets the court accept your will without tracking down your witnesses later, which speeds up probate.
Can You Use a Handwritten (Holographic) Will in Virginia?
Virginia recognizes holographic wills (Va. Code § 64.2-403(B)): a will wholly in the testator's handwriting and signed by the testator is valid without witnesses, provided the fact that it is wholly in the testator's handwriting and signed by the testator is proved at probate by at least two disinterested witnesses. Even so, a typed will signed in front of witnesses is far less likely to be challenged, because handwritten wills are easy to get wrong (unclear gifts, no date, no witnesses) and invite disputes.
Spousal and Family Protections in Virginia
Can you disinherit your spouse? You CANNOT fully disinherit a spouse. For decedents dying on or after January 1, 2017, Virginia uses a UPC-style augmented-estate system: the surviving spouse may elect 50% of the value of the MARITAL-PROPERTY PORTION of the augmented estate. The marital-property portion is a percentage that increases with the length of the marriage (from a small fraction in short marriages up to 100% at 15+ years), so the net elective entitlement effectively ranges from a few percent up to 50% of the augmented estate. The spouse also gets the family allowance, exempt property, and homestead allowance.
Children born after your will: Two rules: (1) if the testator had NO children when the will was made, an after-born/after-adopted child not provided for or mentioned takes an intestate share (§ 64.2-419). (2) if the testator HAD a living child when the will was made, an after-born/after-adopted child not provided for or expressly excluded takes the LESSER of an intestate share or an amount equal to the largest devise to a named child (§ 64.2-420). This is why the generator has you name your children and states that any omission is intentional.
If a beneficiary dies before you: Anti-lapse protects a beneficiary (including a class-gift member) who is a grandparent or a descendant of a grandparent of the testator and who is dead at execution or fails to survive the testator: that beneficiary's surviving descendants take in their place, unless a contrary intention appears in the will or trust. The generator's "per stirpes" option and survivorship clause work alongside this rule.
Survivorship, No-Contest, and Digital Assets
Survivorship: Virginia requires survival by 120 hours under donative dispositions (its Uniform Simultaneous Death framework) — a beneficiary who does not survive by 120 hours is treated as predeceasing, unless the governing instrument provides otherwise. The generator builds in a 30-to-60-day survivorship period regardless.
No-contest clauses: STRICTLY ENFORCED. Virginia enforces no-contest (in terrorem) clauses according to their plain terms and recognizes NO good-faith / probable-cause exception (the General Assembly has declined to adopt one; courts apply forfeiture even to good-faith challenges). This is the opposite of most states. Clauses are construed strictly against forfeiture only as a matter of interpretation, but a genuine 'contest' triggers forfeiture regardless of probable cause.
Digital assets: Virginia has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, so your executor can manage your online accounts and digital property — the generator includes a clause granting that authority.
Personal-property list: Virginia lets you leave a separate signed list (a "memorandum") giving away specific personal items, so you can update who gets what without rewriting your will.
What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Virginia?
Virginia gives the surviving spouse the entire estate when all of the decedent's children are also the spouse's children (or there are no children at all). The big exception is blended families: if the decedent left even one child from another relationship, the spouse's share drops to one-third and the children share the other two-thirds. With no spouse, the estate flows to children, then parents, then siblings.
- Spouse, no children: Surviving spouse takes the entire estate when the decedent leaves no children or descendants.
- Spouse and shared children: If all of the decedent's children and descendants are also the surviving spouse's, the spouse takes the ENTIRE estate.
- Spouse and a child from another relationship: The gotcha: if the decedent left one or more children/descendants who are NOT also children of the surviving spouse, two-thirds of the estate passes to the decedent's children and their descendants, and only one-third passes to the surviving spouse.
- Children, no spouse: No spouse: the estate passes to the decedent's children and their descendants (descendants of a deceased child take that share by representation).
- No spouse or children: No spouse, no descendants: to the decedent's parents, or the surviving parent; then to the decedent's siblings and their descendants; then the estate splits between paternal and maternal kindred up the chain; ultimately escheating to the Commonwealth if no heir exists.
Unmarried partners, friends, and stepchildren you have not adopted generally receive nothing under intestacy. A will is how you override these defaults. Source: Va. Code § 64.2-200.
Updating, Revoking, and Storing Your Will
Review your will after any big life change — marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, or a move to a new state. To change it, either sign a new will that revokes the old one (the cleanest option, and what this generator produces) or add a witnessed "codicil." Do not cross things out on a signed will — handwritten edits can invalidate it. Store the signed original somewhere safe and tell your executor where it is; a will that cannot be found is presumed revoked.
Common mistakes to avoid: using a beneficiary as a witness; forgetting a residuary clause (so part of the estate passes by intestacy); leaving a young child a lump sum outright at 18 instead of in trust; not naming a backup executor or guardian; and never actually signing the document. The generator above is built to avoid each of these.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a will made online valid in Virginia?
Yes, if you sign it correctly. Virginia requires 2 witnesses. The document this tool creates is a standard typed will; it becomes legally valid when you sign it following the steps above.
Does my Virginia will need to be notarized?
No. Virginia does not require your will to be notarized to be valid. Notarizing the separate self-proving affidavit is optional but makes probate easier.
How many witnesses does a Virginia will need?
2 witnesses. For a will not wholly in the testator's handwriting: the testator's signature must be made, or the will acknowledged by the testator, in the presence of at least two competent witnesses who are present at the same time, and who subscribe the will in the presence of the testator. No particular form of attestation is necessary (Va. Code § 64.2-403(C)). They should be adults who do not inherit under the will.
Can I leave my spouse out of my Virginia will?
You CANNOT fully disinherit a spouse. For decedents dying on or after January 1, 2017, Virginia uses a UPC-style augmented-estate system: the surviving spouse may elect 50% of the value of the MARITAL-PROPERTY PORTION of the augmented estate. The marital-property portion is a percentage that increases with the length of the marriage (from a small fraction in short marriages up to 100% at 15+ years), so the net elective entitlement effectively ranges from a few percent up to 50% of the augmented estate. The spouse also gets the family allowance, exempt property, and homestead allowance.
What happens if I die without a will in Virginia?
Virginia gives the surviving spouse the entire estate when all of the decedent's children are also the spouse's children (or there are no children at all). The big exception is blended families: if the decedent left even one child from another relationship, the spouse's share drops to one-third and the children share the other two-thirds. With no spouse, the estate flows to children, then parents, then siblings.
Does a Virginia will avoid probate?
No. A will still goes through probate — it directs how your estate is distributed and names your executor, but the court still supervises (often a simplified, independent administration). To avoid probate entirely, people use living trusts and beneficiary designations in addition to a will.
How old do I have to be to make a will in Virginia?
Generally 18. Any individual may make a will except one who is of unsound mind or is an unemancipated minor (Va. Code § 64.2-401). The self-proving certificate of § 64.2-452 also recites that the testator was over the age of eighteen years. You must also be of sound mind.
Can I write my will by hand in Virginia?
Virginia recognizes handwritten (holographic) wills, but they are easy to get wrong and easy to challenge. A typed, witnessed will is much safer.
Do I need a lawyer to make a will in Virginia?
Not for a straightforward estate — a properly signed will is valid whether or not a lawyer drafts it. See an attorney if you have a large or blended estate, business interests, tax concerns, a special-needs beneficiary, or want to disinherit close family.
Is this really free?
Yes. The generator is free, requires no account, and runs entirely in your browser — your answers are not sent to a server. It is not legal advice and RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm.
Disclaimer
This generator produces a general-purpose will for a straightforward estate and is not legal advice or a substitute for an attorney. Will and probate law changes; the Virginia requirements here are current as of 2026-06-03. A will is only valid if signed and witnessed correctly. For a large, blended, or complex estate, tax planning, a special-needs beneficiary, or to disinherit close family, consult a Virginia estate-planning attorney. RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm.
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