Iowa § 633.279 Signed and witnessed

Iowa Statutes

§ 633.279 — Signed and witnessed

Iowa § 633.279

Title XVJUDICIAL BRANCH AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURES

Ch. 633PROBATE CODE

This text of Iowa § 633.279 (Signed and witnessed) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Iowa Code § 633.279 (2026).

Text

1.Formal execution. All wills and codicils, except as provided in section 633.283, to be valid, must be in writing, signed by the testator, or by some person in the testator’s presence and by the testator’s express direction writing the testator’s name thereto, and declared by thetestatortobethetestator’swill, andwitnessed, atthetestator’srequest, bytwocompetent persons who signed as witnesses in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other; provided, however, that the validity of the execution of any will or instrument which was executed prior to January 1, 1964, shall be determined by the law in effect immediately prior to said date.

2.Self-proved will.

a.An attested will may be made self-proved at the time of its execution, or at any subsequent date, by the acknowle

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

1. Formal execution. All wills and codicils, except as provided in section 633.283, to be
valid, must be in writing, signed by the testator, or by some person in the testator’s presence
and by the testator’s express direction writing the testator’s name thereto, and declared by
thetestatortobethetestator’swill, andwitnessed, atthetestator’srequest, bytwocompetent
persons who signed as witnesses in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each
other; provided, however, that the validity of the execution of any will or instrument which
was executed prior to January 1, 1964, shall be determined by the law in effect immediately
prior to said date.
2. Self-proved will.
a. An attested will may be made self-proved at the time of its execution, or at any
subsequent date, by the acknowledgment thereof by the testator and the affidavits of
the witnesses, each made before a person authorized to administer oaths and take
acknowledgments under the laws of this state, and evidenced by such person’s certificate,
under seal, attached or annexed to the will, in form and content substantially as follows:
Affidavit
State of........................ )
County of........................ ) ss
We, the undersigned, ............................, ............................ and
...................................., the testator and the witnesses, respectively,
whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument,
being first duly sworn, declare to the undersigned authority that at
the date of the instrument, we all knew the identity of each other;
the instrument was exhibited to the witnesses by the testator,
who declared it to be the testator’s last will and testament and
was signed by the testator or by another at the direction of the
testator at ................................, in the County of ........................,
State of ........................, on the date shown in the instrument, and

in the presence of each other as subscribing witnesses; that we,
as witnesses, declare to the undersigned authority that in our
presence the testator executed and acknowledged such will as
the testator’s will and that we, in the testator’s presence, at the
testator’s request, and in the presence of each other, did subscribe
our names thereto as attesting witnesses on the date of such will;
and that the witnesses were sixteen years of age or older.
............................
Testator
............................
Witness
............................
Witness
............................
Subscribed, sworn and acknowledged before me by
................................, the testator; and subscribed and sworn before
me by ................................ and ............................, witnesses, this
............ day of ........................ (month), ............ (year)
.............................
Signature of notarial
officer
(Stamp)
[...................]
Title of office
[My commission expires]
b. Aself-provedwillshallconstituteproofofdueexecutionofsuchinstrumentasrequired
by section 633.293 and may be admitted to probate without testimony of witnesses.
3. Execution of remote will or codicil in counterparts. When a will or codicil is executed
using remote signing under this section, the original document may be executed in one or
more counterparts by parties located in different locations, and all such counterparts may be
aggregated to comprise the complete will or codicil of the testator.
4. Remote will or codicil under disaster proclamation. Any will or codicil executed using
theremotesigningprocedurespermittedundertheproclamationofdisasteremergencyofthe
governor issued April 2, 2020, and expired February 15, 2022, shall be deemed to satisfy the
presence requirements of this section if the will or codicil was executed during the effective
period of the proclamation of disaster emergency.
5. Definition. For purposes of this section, “presence” means any manner, physical or
electronic, in which the witness and testator can see and hear the acts of each other in real
time.