Short answer: The California statutory will is a free, fill-in-the-blank will form written into state law at Probate Code § 6240. It’s legally valid and genuinely better than having nothing. But it’s rigid: no living trust, no probate avoidance, and very little room for blended families, trusts for minor kids, or anything out of the ordinary. It’s fine for a simple estate that goes outright to a spouse and then the kids. It’s the wrong tool for most families who own a home, because a will alone still runs that home through probate.
The statutory form still has to be executed correctly to work. California’s will requirements spell out the signature and witnessing rules that apply to it like any other will.
Code section verified against the California Probate Code, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice for your situation.
What the statutory will actually is
California is one of the few states that puts a ready-made will form right in the statute. Probate Code § 6240 contains the California statutory will, a standardized form with boxes to check and blanks to fill. You don’t pay for it, you don’t need software, and if you complete and sign it correctly (in writing, with two witnesses, like any other will), it’s a valid California will. For a person with almost nothing complicated going on, that’s a real option, and it beats dying with no plan at all.
The trade-off is that you can only do what the form lets you do. You can’t rewrite it, add custom clauses, or bolt on the kind of planning most families actually need. It’s a rigid template by design.
What it can’t do
The statutory will’s limits are the whole story. It does not:
- Create a living trust or avoid probate. This is the big one. A will, statutory or custom, is a probate document. If you own a home, that home almost always has to go through California probate before your family gets it.
- Handle a blended family well. The form assumes a fairly standard family. If you want to provide for a second spouse and also protect children from a first marriage, the rigid choices won’t get you there.
- Build a real trust for minor children. You can name a guardian, but the form gives you little control over how and when kids receive money, no “held until 25, then in thirds” structure.
- Deal with anything nonstandard: specific gifts to specific people, unequal shares, charitable gifts, special-needs planning, or business interests.
The probate problem for California homeowners
Here’s the piece people miss. In California, probate isn’t triggered by whether you have a will, it’s triggered by what you own and how it’s titled. A house in your name alone goes through probate whether you die with a statutory will, a custom will, or no will. California probate is slow (often close to a year or more) and its statutory attorney and executor fees are calculated on the gross value of the estate, not the equity.
Take a Camarillo couple whose home is worth $900,000 with a $400,000 mortgage. Probate fees are figured on the $900,000 gross value, not the $500,000 of equity. A statutory will does nothing to spare them that. Only a properly funded living trust keeps the house out of probate. That’s the honest reason most homeowning families outgrow the form. Our page on the difference between a will and a living trust in California lays out exactly where the line is, and what a living trust costs in California shows what the alternative runs.
Who this is actually for
We’d rather be straight with you than upsell you. The California statutory will is a good fit if all of the following are true: your estate is simple, you don’t own real estate (or you don’t mind probate on it), you want everything to go outright to your spouse and then equally to your kids, and you have no blended-family or special-needs complications. For a young renter, or someone with modest assets and a standard family, it’s a reasonable, free starting point.
It’s the wrong fit if you own a home, have children from more than one relationship, want to control when kids inherit, or have anyone in the family who’d struggle to manage a lump sum. Those situations need real planning, and no fill-in-the-blank form is going to cover them. If you’re not sure which camp you’re in, our overview of what a will is and does in California can help you place yourself.
Completing and signing the statutory will
Where the official form comes from
The statutory will isn’t a product from a legal aid group or a will-writing site. It’s printed in the statute, at Prob. Code § 6240, and Prob. Code § 6242 keeps its clauses fixed to what exists on the day the will is signed. So the valid version is the text in the code on the day you sign, and a “2022” or “2026” label on a download doesn’t change that.
That’s where third-party versions go wrong. If a site’s wording differs from Prob. Code § 6240, even to smooth the language, it stops being the statutory will and becomes a private document borrowing the name. Compare what you’re using against the code section before you sign it.
The choices the form offers
The form is a series of numbered paragraphs, each with its own boxes. Paragraph 2 lets you leave your residence to someone other than the people who get the rest of your estate. Paragraph 3 does the same for cars, furniture, and other personal effects. Paragraph 4 lets you make cash gifts to named people or a charity. Paragraph 5, the balance of your assets, is the one mandatory paragraph, filled in by signing exactly one box.
Paragraphs 2, 3, and 5 work the same way. Pick one lettered choice and sign in the box next to it. An unsigned box in paragraph 2 or 3 just means that gift doesn’t happen, and the property falls into the balance of your assets. Signing more than one box, or none, in paragraph 5 is worse. The form warns the court will then distribute your estate as if you’d died without a will.
Paragraph 6 lets you name a guardian for a minor child, in order of preference. Paragraph 7 lets you name a custodian to hold a young beneficiary’s inheritance until an age you pick, from 18 to 25 instead of the default 18. Wanting more control than that is what a living trust is for, not this form.
Signing it so it holds up
Prob. Code § 6110 requires the will to be signed by the testator and witnessed by at least two people, present at the same time, who watch the testator sign or acknowledge the will and understand it’s a will. The form’s witness declaration tracks that closely, down to swearing the witnesses were all present together.
Don’t use a beneficiary as a witness. Under Prob. Code § 6112, a witness who’s also named to receive property faces a presumption the gift was procured by duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence, unless two other disinterested witnesses also signed or the gift was purely fiduciary, as with an executor. Avoid the fight and use witnesses who inherit nothing.
Notarization doesn’t substitute for witnesses, as the form says directly. Don’t cross out or add anything beyond filling in the blanks, either. The form’s instructions prohibit it, and Prob. Code § 6243 pulls in the general law of wills for what the statutory chapter doesn’t cover, so a handwritten change to the printed text raises the same intent and revocation problems any other will’s alterations would. If you want something the form doesn’t offer, you need a custom will or a trust, not a doctored form. Handwritten wills have their own rules and aren’t a patch for this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the California statutory will legally valid?
Yes. The California statutory will is authorized by Probate Code § 6240, and if you complete and sign it correctly, in writing, with two witnesses, it’s a valid California will. It’s genuinely better than dying with no plan. Its weakness is rigidity, not legality.
Does a California statutory will avoid probate?
No. Like any will, the statutory will is a probate document, not a probate-avoidance tool. If you own a home in your own name, it will still go through California probate. Only a properly funded living trust keeps real estate out of probate.
Can I use the California statutory will if I own a house?
You can, but it usually isn’t the right choice. A home titled in your name alone runs through probate regardless of the will, and California probate fees are based on the home’s gross value, not your equity. Most homeowning families are better served by a living trust.
Can the statutory will set up a trust for my minor children?
Only in a very limited way. You can name a guardian, but the form doesn’t let you build a real trust that controls how and when children receive money. If you want money held and released on a schedule, you need custom planning, not the statutory form.
Who should use the California statutory will?
It’s a reasonable free option for a simple estate. Someone who doesn’t own real estate, wants everything to pass outright to a spouse and then equally to the kids, and has no blended-family or special-needs issues. If any of those don’t describe you, the form’s rigidity will likely leave gaps.
The bottom line
The California statutory will is free, valid, and better than nothing, a sensible option for a genuinely simple estate. But it’s a rigid form that can’t create a trust, can’t avoid probate, and can’t handle blended families or staged inheritances for kids. If you own a home, that house still goes through probate with a statutory will, which is the main reason most families eventually need more. Want to know whether the free form is enough for you, or whether you’re one of the ones who needs a trust? Talk to Eric and get an honest read.
Sources: Cal. Prob. Code § 6240 (California statutory will form); Cal. Prob. Code § 6110 (will execution requirements).
Looking for a California will template?
If you came here searching for a CA will template or a printable will form, the statutory will described on this page is the template, and it is the only one written into California law. Prob. Code § 6240 sets out the form itself. It is free, it is California-specific, and it is valid when executed correctly.
That last condition is where downloaded templates fail. Execution formalities matter more than the wording, and a template that is filled out perfectly but signed incorrectly is not a will. Notarization does not substitute for proper execution.
Where a generic template found online is genuinely worse than the statutory form: it may reflect another state’s law, it may include provisions that do not operate the way they read in California, and nothing about it has been reviewed for this state. The statutory will has at least been drafted by the Legislature for use here.
Where even the statutory will is the wrong tool: if you own California real property, a will does not avoid probate, and probate fees here are statutory and computed on gross value. If that describes you, the question is not which template to use. See will vs living trust in California. For a broader look at DIY forms and software, see our guide to free living trust forms and will templates.
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