North Carolina § 31-11 - 6. How attested wills may be made self-proved.

§ 31-11. 6. How attested wills may be made self-proved.

Any will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state where execution occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, in the following form, or in a similar form showing the same intent: The sworn statement of any such witnesses taken as herein provided shall be accepted by the court as if it had been taken before such court. Any will recognized as valid under G.S. 31-46(1) or (2) and shown by the propounder to have been made self-proved under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the testator was physically present at the time of execution or the place where the testator was domiciled at the time of execution or at the time of death shall be considered as self-proved. A military testamentary instrument executed in accordance with the provisions of 10 U.S.C. § 1044d(d) or any successor or replacement statute shall be considered as self-proved. "I, ______________, the testator, sign my name to this instrument this ________ day of ____________, ________ and being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my last will and that I sign it willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that I am eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence. ______________________________________________________________________ Testator We ______________, ______________, the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument, being first duly sworn, and do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as his last will and that he signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for him), and that each of us, in the presence and hearing of the testator, hereby signs this will as witness to the testator's signing, and to the best of our knowledge the testator is eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence. ______________________________________________________________________ Witness ______________________________________________________________________ Witness THE STATE OF ____________. COUNTY OF ____________. Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by ______________. the testator and subscribed and sworn to before me by ______________ and ______________, witnesses, this ________ day of ______________ (SEAL) (SIGNED) ______________________________________________________________ (OFFICIAL CAPACITY OF OFFICER)" (b) An attested written will executed as provided by G.S. 31-3.3 may at any time subsequent to its execution be made self-proved, by the acknowledgment thereof by the testator and the affidavits of the attesting witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of this State, and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, attached or annexed to the will in form and content substantially as follows: "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA "COUNTY/CITY OF ______________ "Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared ______________, and ______________, known to me to be the testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument and, all of these persons being by me first duly sworn. The testator, declared to me and to the witnesses in my presence: That said instrument is his last will; that he had willingly signed or directed another to sign the same for him, and executed it in the presence of said witnesses as his free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed; or, that the testator signified that the instrument was his instrument by acknowledging to them his signature previously affixed thereto. The said witnesses stated before me that the foregoing will was executed and acknowledged by the testator as his last will in the presence of said witnesses who, in his presence and at his request, subscribed their names thereto as attesting witnesses and that the testator, at the time of the execution of said will, was over the age of 18 years and of sound and disposing mind and memory. ______________________________________________________________________ Testator ______________________________________________________________________ Witness ______________________________________________________________________ Witness ______________________________________________________________________ Witness Subscribed, sworn and acknowledged before me by ______________, the testator, subscribed and sworn before me by ______________, ______________ and ______________ witnesses, this ________ day of ____________, A.D. ________ (SEAL) (SIGNED) ______________________________________________________________ (OFFICIAL CAPACITY OF OFFICER)" History (1977, c. 795, s. 1; 1979, c. 536, s. 1; 1981, c. 599, s. 8; 1999-456, s. 59; 2013-91, s. 1(f); 2019-178, s. 3(a).) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 1977, c. 795, which enacted this Article, provides, in s. 3, that: "This act shall apply to any attested written will in existence on or executed after the effective date of this act [Oct. 1, 1977]." Session Laws 1979, c. 536, which, effective Oct. 1, 1979, designated the former provisions of the section as subsections (b) and (c) and added subsection (a), and in subsection (b), the amendment substituted "any time subsequent to its execution" for "the time of its execution or at any subsequent date" near the beginning of the introductory paragraph, provided in s. 2, effective May 9, 1979, that: "The execution of an acknowledgment of a will by a testator, and of the affidavits of witnesses, made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of this State and evidenced by the officer's certificate substantially in the form set out in G.S. 31-11.6 during the period between October 1, 1977 and October 1, 1979 shall be considered to be a valid execution and attestation of a written will even though the will was not signed and attested under the provisions of G.S. 31-3.3 separately from the execution of the acknowledgment by the testator and the affidavits of the witnesses. Such wills may be probated in accordance with G.S. 31-18.1(a)(4)." Session Laws 1981, c. 599, which substituted "Any" for "In addition to the procedures for the execution of a will set out in G.S. 31-3.3, any" at the beginning of subsection (a), provided, in s. 9, that: "The execution of an acknowledgment of a will by a testator, and of the affidavits of witnesses, made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of this State and evidenced by the officer's certificate substantially in the form set out in G.S. 31-11.6 if done during the period between October 1, 1979, and the effective date of this act [October 1, 1979], shall be considered to be a valid execution and attestation of a written will regardless of whether or not the will was signed and attested under the provisions of G.S. 31-3.3 separately from the execution of the acknowledgment by the testator and the affidavits of the witnesses. Such wills may be probated in accordance with G.S. 31-18.1(a)(4)." Session Laws 1981, c. 599, s. 21, provided that the act would not affect pending litigation. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2013-91, s. 1(f), effective June 12, 2013, in the first sentence of subsection (a), deleted "substantially" following "under official seal, in" and added "or in a similar form showing the same intent" at the end; and added subsections (d) and (e). Session Laws 2019-178, s. 3(a), effective July 26, 2019, rewrote subsection (d), which read, "(d) Any will executed in another state and shown by the propounder to have been made self-proved under the laws of that state shall be considered as self-proved." Legal Periodicals. - For survey of 1977 law on wills, trusts and estates, see 56 N.C.L. Rev. 1152 (1978). For comment on the seal in North Carolina and the need for reform, see 15 Wake Forest L. Rev. 251 (1979). For article, "Abolishing the Attestation Requirement for Wills," see 68 N.C.L. Rev. 541 (1990).