How to Make a Will in California: Steps, Costs and Mistakes (2026)

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law. Updated October 2026.

Before you draft anything, it helps to know what makes the finished document valid. The requirements under Prob. Code § 6110 and § 6111 decide whether a court will accept it.

A lot of people put off writing a will because they think it is complicated, expensive, or only for older adults with large estates. None of that is true. A will is simply a set of written instructions. Get it right and your family avoids guessing games and court fights. Get it wrong, or skip it entirely, and California’s intestacy statutes decide who gets your home, your savings, and the care of your children, following a formula that has nothing to do with your actual relationships.

Eric Ridley has helped Ventura County families with wills and estate planning since 2010. What follows is a plain-English walkthrough of every step.

1. Know the legal baseline: 18 or older, capacity, writing, signature, two witnesses.
2. List your assets and your wishes.
3. Choose an executor.
4. Name guardians for minor children.
5. Draft specific gifts and a residuary clause.
6. Sign with two witnesses present at the same time.

Step 1: Know the Legal Baseline (Probate Code § 6110)

California sets a short checklist for a will to be valid:

• You must be at least 18 years old.
• You must have “testamentary capacity,” meaning you understand what a will is, what property you own, and who your natural heirs are.
• The will must be in writing. Oral or video-only wills are not recognized.
• You must sign it, or direct someone to sign in your name while you watch.
• At least two witnesses must sign during your lifetime, both present at the same time when you sign.

Notarization is not required for a standard witnessed will. The full notary answer, including the one document in a trust plan that does need a notary, has its own page. Witnesses cannot be beneficiaries under the will if you want to keep things clean; a beneficiary-witness situation triggers a statutory presumption of undue influence that can reduce or void that person’s gift.

Step 2: List Your Assets and Your Wishes

Before you write a single word of the will itself, make a working inventory. This does not need to be formal, just complete.

What to inventory

• Real estate (include parcel numbers and how title is currently held)
• Bank and investment accounts
• Retirement accounts and life insurance (note: these pass by beneficiary designation, not by will, but you still need to know they exist)
• Vehicles
• Valuables: jewelry, art, collectibles
• Digital assets: cryptocurrency, online businesses, subscription revenue, photo libraries
• Business interests

Once you have the list, decide who gets what. Be specific. “My children” is vaguer than it sounds if you have stepchildren or a child born after the will is signed. California courts interpret ambiguous language, but that costs your estate time and money. Name people by their full legal name and relationship.

Community property reminder

California is a community property state. You can only give away your own property: separate property (assets you owned before marriage or received as gifts or inheritance) and your half of community property (assets acquired during marriage). You cannot cut a surviving spouse out of their half of community property through a will.

Step 3: Choose Your Executor

The executor (sometimes called a personal representative) is the person who files the will with probate court, inventories assets, pays debts and taxes, and distributes what remains to your beneficiaries. It is an administrative job, not a glamorous one.

Pick someone who is organized, honest, and willing to do paperwork. A spouse or adult child works for many families. If your estate is complex, a professional fiduciary or attorney is worth considering. Name an alternate executor in case your first choice cannot serve.

Talk to the person before you name them. Executors who are surprised by the appointment sometimes decline, which delays everything.

Step 4: Name Guardians for Minor Children

If you have children under 18, this step may matter more than any asset distribution decision you make. A guardian designation in your will tells a court who you want raising your kids if both parents are gone. Courts give this nomination serious weight, though they retain discretion to act in the child’s best interest.

Think through the same factors you would weigh in any parenting decision: shared values, financial stability, relationship with your children, geographic practicality. Name an alternate guardian as well. Have the conversation with your chosen guardian before the will is signed, and revisit the designation if your family circumstances change.

Step 5: Draft the Gifts and the Residuary Clause

A will typically has two categories of gifts.

Specific bequests

A specific bequest assigns a particular item or dollar amount to a named person. “I give my 1967 Gibson ES-335 guitar to my son, James Thomas Ridley.” Specific bequests are fulfilled first, before anything else is distributed.

One practical issue: if you no longer own the item when you die, the bequest fails and the named person receives nothing. This is called ademption. If you plan to give something specific, note that and review your will if you sell or lose that item.

The residuary clause

The residuary clause is the catch-all. It governs everything not covered by a specific bequest. “I give the rest and residue of my estate to my spouse, Dana Lee Ridley, and if she does not survive me, in equal shares to my children who survive me.” Without a residuary clause, anything left over after specific gifts falls into intestacy, which usually is not what you intended.

Include contingency language. What happens if a beneficiary dies before you do? “To my daughter, or if she does not survive me, to her children in equal shares” prevents an accidental gap.

Step 6: Sign with Two Witnesses

The execution ceremony is short but the rules are firm.

• All three of you (you and both witnesses) should be in the same room at the same time.
• You sign first, or acknowledge to the witnesses that the signature on the document is yours.
• Both witnesses then sign, writing their addresses as well, which helps locate them if the will is later challenged.
• Neither witness should be a beneficiary named in the will.

You can also make the will “self-proving” by including an attestation clause that the witnesses sign under penalty of perjury. Under Probate Code § 8220, the court can accept an affidavit that includes or incorporates the attestation clause as proof the will was properly executed, and a declaration under penalty of perjury has the same force as an affidavit (Code Civ. Proc. § 2015.5). That lets the probate court accept the will without tracking down witnesses to testify. It is not required, no notary is needed, and it is useful.

Do I need a lawyer to make a will in California?

No. California lets any adult of sound mind make a will without a lawyer (Prob. Code § 6100), and the signing rules in Prob. Code § 6110 don’t mention one.

Some situations make a mistake expensive. I’d talk to a lawyer if any of these apply:

• You own a home or other real estate, because a will sends it through probate.
• You have minor children, a blended family, or a child with special needs.
• You want to leave someone out or give unequal shares.
• You own a business or property in another state.

If your situation is simple and you only want to name an executor and a guardian, the do-it-yourself routes below can work. The page on who can create a will and whether DIY tools are safe goes through the trade-offs.

How much does it cost to make a will in California?

At Ridley Law, a complete trust-based plan is a flat $4,900, quoted in writing before any work starts, and the plan includes a pour-over will.

A will is usually one document in a larger plan, so I quote the plan and not the will by itself. The fees page lists what the $4,900 covers. You can also write a will yourself for nothing, since the state prints a free fill-in-the-blank form in Prob. Code § 6240. Online services and forms sit in between, and the comparison of LegalZoom, Trust & Will and a California attorney shows what you get at each price.

The cost of the will itself is the smaller number. Probate is the larger one, and I cover that in the section on when a will isn’t enough.

Do wills in California need to be notarized?

No. A California will needs your signature and two witnesses present at the same time, not a notary (Prob. Code § 6110).

A handwritten will can skip the witnesses if the signature and the material provisions are in your own handwriting (§ 6111). The state’s statutory will form says on its face that you don’t need it notarized and that notarization won’t satisfy the witness requirement (Prob. Code § 6240). I cover the deed exception, the out-of-state “self-proving affidavit” confusion and a comparison table on the page Does a Will Need to Be Notarized in California?

What is the biggest mistake people make with wills?

Assuming a signed will keeps the family out of court. It doesn’t, because a will is the document the probate court uses to start the process.

A second mistake happens at the signing. Both witnesses have to be present together when you sign or acknowledge the will, and a will signed in two separate visits is defective under Prob. Code § 6110(c)(1). The statute has a rescue rule. A court can treat a defective will as valid if the person offering it proves by clear and convincing evidence that you meant it to be your will. That means a lawsuit, though, and no one should plan around it.

Two quieter mistakes are naming a witness who also receives a gift, which triggers a presumption of undue influence under § 6112(c), and forgetting that retirement accounts and life insurance pass by beneficiary designation no matter what the will says. The seven common reasons wills are invalid and the explanation of which wins, your will or your 401(k) go deeper on both.

Can I write my own will in California?

Yes. California recognizes three do-it-yourself routes: a typed will with two witnesses, a handwritten will, and the state’s statutory will form.

The typed and witnessed will follows the six steps above. The handwritten (holographic) will works under § 6111 if the signature and the material provisions are in your handwriting, and the page on handwritten wills covers the risks. The statutory will is a fill-in-the-blank form printed in the Probate Code, and I explain when it’s enough in The California Statutory Will. Online wills are a separate question, answered in Are Electronic or Online Wills Valid in California?

For what goes in the document once you pick a route, see What to Include in a Will and the full list of legal requirements for wills in California.

What happens if I die without a will in California?

The state decides who gets your property under the intestate succession statutes, and your wishes don’t enter into it.

After any share that goes to a surviving spouse, the rest passes in a fixed order: your children first, then your parents, then your siblings and their children, then more distant relatives (Prob. Code § 6402). A court also picks the person who administers the estate, and no document tells a judge who you wanted to raise your minor children. The full rules are on What Happens If You Die Without a Will in California, and you can run your own family through the interactive answer on who inherits.

A Note on Probate

A valid will does not skip probate. It still goes through the California probate process, which is a court-supervised procedure for transferring assets and paying creditors. In my practice, probate in California typically takes twelve to eighteen months and costs a percentage of the gross estate set by statute.

If avoiding probate is a priority, a revocable living trust is usually the more efficient tool. Assets held in a properly funded trust pass directly to beneficiaries without court involvement. A will and a trust often work together: the will serves as a safety net (sometimes called a “pour-over will”) that catches anything left outside the trust.

Ridley Law has helped Ventura County families with wills, trusts, and probate since 2010. Call (805) 244-5291 to schedule a free 30-minute consultation, or learn more about estate planning options.

When is a will not enough?

A will isn’t enough when you own a home, because a will doesn’t avoid probate and probate fees are set by statute on the gross value of the estate.

California has two shortcuts for small estates. If a person died on or after April 1, 2025, a successor can collect up to $208,850 of personal property by affidavit after 40 days (Prob. Code § 13100, with the adjusted amount published by the Judicial Council of California). A primary residence worth up to $750,000 can pass by a court petition after 40 days (§ 13151). Anything above those limits goes through formal probate. The small estate affidavit page walks through both shortcuts.

The statutory attorney fee alone is 4 percent of the first $100,000, 3 percent of the next $100,000 and 2 percent of the next $800,000 (Prob. Code § 10810), which comes to $23,000 on a $1,000,000 estate. The value is gross, without subtracting a mortgage. The executor’s fee follows the same schedule (§ 10800), so the probate fee calculator shows both sides. A will also does nothing while you’re alive. If you lose capacity, a court appoints a conservator unless you’ve signed the right documents, as I explain in Incapacity Planning in California.

That’s why most California homeowners use a revocable living trust plus a pour-over will. The trust holds the house and accounts and passes them to your beneficiaries without court involvement. The pour-over will catches anything you forgot to put in the trust and also names guardians. The trust only works if you retitle assets into it, so see Is Your California Living Trust Actually Funded? Not sure which one you need? Try the trust or will decision aid, read how a pour-over will works, or see what a living trust costs in California.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a will in California need to be notarized?

No. Under Probate Code § 6110, a witnessed will does not require notarization to be valid. Two witnesses who sign the will in your presence are sufficient. Adding an attestation clause that the witnesses sign under penalty of perjury is optional but can simplify probate later if a witness is unavailable. More on this in Does a Will Need to Be Notarized in California?

Can I write my own will by hand in California?

Yes, but with limits. A holographic will, one written entirely in your own handwriting and signed by you, is valid under Probate Code § 6111 without witnesses. The entire document, including the material provisions about who gets what, must be in your handwriting. Typed or printed forms with handwritten fill-ins are more complicated and often fail. A commercially printed form can qualify when the material provisions are in your own handwriting (§ 6111(c)), but a typed will with no witnesses does not. Holographic wills are more likely to be contested and more likely to contain ambiguities that cost money to resolve in court.

Does a will avoid probate in California?

No. A will is the document that goes through probate court, not around it. The probate court validates the will, appoints the executor, and supervises the distribution of assets. If avoiding probate is the goal, a revocable living trust is the primary tool. Assets titled to the trust transfer to beneficiaries without court involvement.

What happens to assets not mentioned in my will?

Assets not covered by a specific bequest should be swept up by the residuary clause. If your will has no residuary clause, or if the residuary beneficiary predeceases you and you named no alternate, the uncovered assets pass by California intestacy law, which follows a statutory order of relatives rather than your actual wishes. That is one reason every will should have a carefully drafted residuary clause with contingency beneficiaries.