A Texas Notary's Guide to Estate Planning Documents

Abstract

This article replaces the January 2015 version to account for the important changes to the one-step execution/self-proving affidavit procedure for wills and guardian declarations enacted by the 2015 Texas Legislature.

Estate planning documents, regardless of how well-drafted, must be properly executed to be effective. Many of these documents require notarization. Although practitioners may take notarization for granted, it is of paramount importance that the notarizations be done correctly or else the validity of the documents are jeopardized. I have often been dazed and amazed by the lack of knowledge of some Texas notaries regarding the proper notarization of estate planning documents. Recently, I was told by a notary that she never swears the testator or the witnesses when they sign the self-proving affidavit. When I explained to the notary that this step was required, she told me that she had been doing it this way for over thirty years and was not going to change based on what I said.

It is my hope that you will share this article with the notaries in your office to help them perform notarizations that you would be proud to see posted on the Internet for all to see.

Keywords: estate planning, wills, Texas, notary, document execution, power of attorney

JEL Classification: K11