Estate planning requirements by state
Estate planning is governed by state law. Whether a will needs two witnesses or a notary, whether holographic wills are recognized, how probate works, and whether the state imposes an estate or inheritance tax — all of it varies. Select a state below for its execution formalities and statutory citations. These are the sameattorney crafted & attorney verified rule sets Estateur drafts against: every instrument is generated to the target state's formalities and validated against them before delivery. All 50 states and the District of Columbia are covered.
Choose your state
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Why the jurisdiction matters
A generic, national template can miss the execution formalities a particular state requires — the number of witnesses, whether a notary is needed, mandatory statutory language, and prohibited clauses. Get one of those wrong and the instrument can be challenged. Estateur drafts each document against the target state's attorney crafted & attorney verified rule set and runs a deterministic validation pass against that state's hard requirements before delivery. A blocker finding prevents delivery.