Free West Virginia Last Will and Testament
Build a complete West 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 West Virginia's correct signing requirements.
A free, ready-to-sign will — but not legal advice.
This builds a complete West 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 — West 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 West Virginia: A valid West Virginia will must be in writing and signed by the testator (or by another in the testator's presence and at the testator's direction); and, unless wholly in the testator's handwriting, the 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 presence of the testator AND each other (W. Va. Code § 41-1-3). Notarization is not required for validity. To support uncontested probate without live testimony, the attesting witnesses may sign a sworn affidavit before an officer under § 41-5-15, preserved with the will. Note the affidavit is NOT admissible if the will is contested. West Virginia also recognizes wholly handwritten (holographic) wills with no witnesses (§ 41-1-3).
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, West 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.
West Virginia does not give legal effect to a separate personal-property memorandum, so any specific items must be listed in this Will itself to be binding.
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 West 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], West 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 (W. Va. Code § 41-5-15) — sign this part before a notary to make probate easier:
West Virginia does NOT prescribe a single rigid verbatim affidavit form. Under W. Va. Code § 41-5-15, any or all of the attesting witnesses, at the request of the testator, may make and subscribe an affidavit before any officer authorized to administer oaths, stating such facts as would be required of them in testimony in court to establish and prove the will. If the testator preserves the affidavit with the will and it is produced when the will is offered for probate, it is admissible and has the same probative value as if the witnesses had testified in court. IMPORTANT LIMITATION: such affidavits are NOT admissible in any case in which there is a contest over the will. Faithful practice template:
"STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, COUNTY OF _______. We, [WITNESS 1] and [WITNESS 2], the attesting witnesses, being first duly sworn, state that: [TESTATOR] signed the attached instrument as the testator's last will (or acknowledged the testator's signature or the will) in our presence; we subscribed our names as witnesses in the presence of the testator and of each other; and at that time, to the best of our knowledge, the testator was at least eighteen years of age, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.
_________ Witness _________ Witness
Subscribed and sworn before me this ___ day of ____, 20__.
_________ Officer / Notary Public (SEAL) My commission expires: ____"
How to Sign Your Will in West Virginia
A valid West Virginia will must be in writing and signed by the testator (or by another in the testator's presence and at the testator's direction); and, unless wholly in the testator's handwriting, the 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 presence of the testator AND each other (W. Va. Code § 41-1-3). Notarization is not required for validity. To support uncontested probate without live testimony, the attesting witnesses may sign a sworn affidavit before an officer under § 41-5-15, preserved with the will. Note the affidavit is NOT admissible if the will is contested. West Virginia also recognizes wholly handwritten (holographic) wills with no witnesses (§ 41-1-3).
West Virginia requires 2 witnesses: Unless the will is 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 present at the same time, and the witnesses must subscribe the will in the presence of the testator AND of each other. No form of attestation is necessary (W. Va. Code § 41-1-3).. 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 (W. Va. Code § 41-5-15) 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 West Virginia?
West Virginia recognizes holographic wills: a will wholly in the handwriting of the testator and signed by the testator is valid without witnesses (W. Va. Code § 41-1-3). 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 West Virginia
Can you disinherit your spouse? You CANNOT fully disinherit a spouse. West Virginia adopted the UPC augmented-estate elective share with a SLIDING SCALE by length of marriage: the surviving spouse may elect a percentage of the augmented estate ranging from 3% (married 1 year) up to 50% (married 15+ years). The augmented estate sweeps in probate and many nonprobate transfers plus the survivor's own property. The spouse also gets the homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance.
Children born after your will: Two provisions: (§ 41-4-1) if the will is made when the testator has NO child and a child is later born/adopted, not provided for or mentioned, that child takes an intestate share. (§ 41-4-2) if the testator HAD a child living when the will was made and a child is born afterwards who is neither provided for nor expressly excluded (only pretermitted), that after-born child takes the portion they would have received under intestacy. 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: if a devisee or legatee dies before the testator (or is dead when the will is made) leaving issue who survive the testator, that issue takes the devised/bequeathed property as the devisee would have, unless a different disposition is made or required by the will. (Broad 'issue of the devisee' rule, not limited to a grandparent class.) The generator's "per stirpes" option and survivorship clause work alongside this rule.
Survivorship, No-Contest, and Digital Assets
Survivorship: West Virginia follows a 120-hour survival requirement under its Uniform Simultaneous Death Act (Ch. 42, Art. 4) — a person who does not survive the decedent by 120 hours is treated as predeceasing, unless the will provides otherwise. The generator builds in a 30-to-60-day survivorship period regardless.
No-contest clauses: No-contest (in terrorem) clauses are enforceable in West Virginia, but the court will NOT enforce a forfeiture where the contestant had PROBABLE CAUSE for bringing the challenge (a reasonable likelihood of success based on facts known at filing).
Digital assets: West 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: West Virginia does not give legal effect to a separate personal-property memorandum, so list any specific items in the will itself.
What Happens If You Die Without a Will in West Virginia?
West Virginia follows the Uniform Probate Code with a three-tier spousal share. The spouse takes the entire estate when there are no descendants, or when all the decedent's children are also the spouse's and the spouse has no other children. The share drops to three-fifths if the spouse has children from another relationship, and to one-half if the decedent left a child who is not the spouse's.
- Spouse, no children: Surviving spouse takes the entire intestate estate when no descendant of the decedent survives.
- Spouse and shared children: Surviving spouse takes the entire intestate estate if all of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse AND the spouse has no other surviving descendants. If the spouse also has one or more descendants who are NOT the decedent's (e.g., the spouse's own children from another relationship), the spouse instead takes three-fifths of the estate.
- Spouse and a child from another relationship: The gotcha: if one or more of the decedent's surviving descendants are NOT descendants of the surviving spouse, the spouse takes one-half of the intestate estate; the other half passes to the decedent's descendants.
- Children, no spouse: No spouse: the entire estate passes to the decedent's descendants by representation.
- No spouse or children: No spouse, no descendants: to the decedent's parents (equally, or the survivor); then to descendants of the parents (siblings, etc.) by representation; then to grandparents and their descendants; ultimately escheating to the State.
Unmarried partners, friends, and stepchildren you have not adopted generally receive nothing under intestacy. A will is how you override these defaults. Source: W. Va. Code § 42-1-3.
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 West Virginia?
Yes, if you sign it correctly. West 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 West Virginia will need to be notarized?
No. West 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 West Virginia will need?
2 witnesses. Unless the will is 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 present at the same time, and the witnesses must subscribe the will in the presence of the testator AND of each other. No form of attestation is necessary (W. Va. Code § 41-1-3). They should be adults who do not inherit under the will.
Can I leave my spouse out of my West Virginia will?
You CANNOT fully disinherit a spouse. West Virginia adopted the UPC augmented-estate elective share with a SLIDING SCALE by length of marriage: the surviving spouse may elect a percentage of the augmented estate ranging from 3% (married 1 year) up to 50% (married 15+ years). The augmented estate sweeps in probate and many nonprobate transfers plus the survivor's own property. The spouse also gets the homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance.
What happens if I die without a will in West Virginia?
West Virginia follows the Uniform Probate Code with a three-tier spousal share. The spouse takes the entire estate when there are no descendants, or when all the decedent's children are also the spouse's and the spouse has no other children. The share drops to three-fifths if the spouse has children from another relationship, and to one-half if the decedent left a child who is not the spouse's.
Does a West 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 West Virginia?
Generally 18. No person of unsound mind, or under the age of eighteen years, is capable of making a will (W. Va. Code § 41-1-2). You must also be of sound mind.
Can I write my will by hand in West Virginia?
West 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 West 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 West 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 West Virginia estate-planning attorney. RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm.
Know someone who could use this? Share this free tool: