2005 North Carolina Code - General Statutes Article 1 - Execution of Will.

Chapter 31.

Wills.

Article 1.

Execution of Will.

§ 31‑1.  Who may make will.

Any person of sound mind, and 18 years of age or over, may make a will. (1811, c. 280; R.C., c. 119, s. 2; Code, s. 2137; Rev., s. 3111; C.S., s. 4128; 1953, c. 1098, s. 1; 1965, c. 303; 1969, c. 39.)

 

§ 31‑2.  Repealed by Session Laws 1953, c. 1098, s. 1.

 

§ 31‑3:  Rewritten and renumbered as G.S. 31‑3.1 to 31‑3.6 by Session Laws 1953, c. 1098, s. 2.

 

§ 31‑3.1.  Will invalid unless statutory requirements complied with.

No will is valid unless it complies with the requirements prescribed therefor by this Article. (1953, c. 1098, s. 2.)

 

§ 31‑3.2.  Kinds of wills.

(a)       Personal property may be bequeathed and real property may be devised by

(1)       An attested written will which complies with the requirements of G.S. 31‑3.3, or

(2)       A holographic will which complies with the requirements of G.S. 31‑3.4.

(b)       Personal property may also be bequeathed by a nuncupative will which complies with the requirements of G.S. 31‑3.5. (1953, c. 1098, s. 2.)

 

§ 31‑3.3.  Attested written will.

(a)       An attested written will is a written will signed by the testator and attested by at least two competent witnesses as provided by this section.

(b)       The testator must, with intent to sign the will, do so by  signing the will himself or by having someone else in the testator's presence and at his direction sign the testator's name thereon.

(c)       The testator must signify to the attesting witnesses that the instrument is his instrument by signing it in their presence or by acknowledging to them his signature previously affixed thereto, either of which may be done before the attesting witnesses separately.

(d)       The attesting witnesses must sign the will in the presence of the testator but need not sign in the presence of each other. (1953, c. 1098, s. 2.)

 

§ 31‑3.4.  Holographic will.

(a)       A holographic will is a will

(1)       Written entirely in the handwriting of the testator but when all the words appearing on a paper in the handwriting of the  testator are sufficient to constitute a valid holographic will, the fact that other words or printed matter appear thereon not in the handwriting of the testator, and not affecting the meaning of the words in such handwriting, shall not affect the validity of the will, and

(2)       Subscribed by the testator, or with his name written in or on the will in his own handwriting, and

(3)       Found after the testator's death among his valuable papers or effects, or in a safe‑deposit box or other safe place where it was deposited by him or under his authority, or in the possession or custody of some person with whom, or some firm or corporation with which, it was deposited by him or under his authority for safekeeping.

(b)       No attesting witness to a holographic will is required. (1953, c. 1098, s. 2; 1955, c. 73, s. 1.)

 

§ 31‑3.5.  Nuncupative will.

A nuncupative will is a will

(1)       Made orally by a person who is in his last sickness or in imminent peril of death and who does not survive such sickness or imminent peril, and

(2)       Declared to be his will before two competent witnesses simultaneously present at the making thereof and specially requested by him to bear witness thereto. (1953, c. 1098, s.  2.)

 

§ 31‑3.6.  Seal not required.

A seal is not necessary to the validity of a will. (1953, c. 1098, s. 2.)

 

§ 31‑4.  Execution of power of appointment by will.

No appointment, made by will in the exercise of any power, shall be valid unless the same be executed in the manner by law required for the execution of wills; and every will, executed in such manner, shall, so far as respects the execution and attestation thereof, be a valid execution of a power of appointment by will, notwithstanding it shall have been expressly required that a will made in exercise of such power should be executed with some additional or other form of execution or solemnity. (1844, c. 88, s. 9; R.C., c. 119, s. 4; Code, s. 2139; Rev., s. 3114; C.S., s. 4132.)