Clear Money Guide
What this guide covers
A quick view of the questions and evidence developed below.
Comparison tables scroll horizontally on smaller screens.
Updated August 1, 2026. Quick answer: almost certainly not. In 45 of the 46 states whose execution statute we have read, notarisation is not a requirement for a will to be valid — the witnesses are. What the notary signs is the self-proving affidavit: a separate, optional page that lets the will be admitted to probate without tracking your witnesses down years later. It is worth having. It is not what makes the will work.
Two documents that get confused because they are stapled together
| The will | The self-proving affidavit |
|---|---|
| Signed by you, watched by witnesses | Sworn by you and the witnesses in front of a notary |
| Makes the document legally operative | Makes proving it in court quicker |
| Required | Optional in most states, and not offered in all of them |
| Missing witnesses is usually fatal | Missing affidavit just means a witness may have to testify |
This is why the notarised-but-unwitnessed will is such a common and expensive mistake. The notary stamp looks like the official part. It is the part that proves who signed — not the part that makes the document a will.
The exceptions we have verified
Colorado and North Dakota are the structural exceptions: a will may be validly executed by acknowledgment before a notary instead of being attested by witnesses. The notary is an alternative path, not an addition (C.R.S. § 15-11-502(1)(c); N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-02(1)(c)). Pennsylvania goes the other way and requires no attesting witnesses at all for a will the testator signs (20 Pa.C.S. § 2502) — witnesses enter only where someone signs by mark or on the testator’s behalf.
Two more worth knowing because they change what the affidavit is worth: California has no execution-time self-proving affidavit at all — proof runs through the subscribing witnesses after death (Cal. Prob. Code § 8220) — and the same is true in Ohio, whose probate chapter contains no such provision (ORC ch. 2107 (full section index 2107.01-2107.77 checked)). In those states, chasing a notary adds nothing to the will.
The one place the answer is yes
Louisiana is the exception that proves the rule, and it is not a quirk — it is a different legal system. Louisiana is a civil-law jurisdiction, and its ordinary will form is the notarial testament, which is executed before a notary and two witnesses, all of whom sign (La. Civ. Code arts. 1574, 1576). There is no self-proving affidavit there because there is nothing left to prove: the notary is present at execution. Louisiana also offers the olographic testament, entirely handwritten, dated and signed — which needs neither a notary nor a witness (La. Civ. Code art. 1575(A)). So the state that most requires a notary is also one where you can make a valid will without ever meeting one.
Where a notary genuinely earns their fee
Remote and electronic execution. The states that recognise electronic wills generally build the notary into the process rather than leaving them at the edge of it — and that is a different question from whether your paper will needs a stamp. 15 of the 46 states in our library recognise electronic wills in some form, and 11 more we have not been able to verify.
The full state table gives the witness count, the interested-witness rule, the handwritten-will answer and the electronic-will answer for every state whose statute we have read — with the citation on each cell.
Getting the witnesses right
The notary proves the signature; the witnesses are what make the will. If yours is still to be written or replaced, LawDepot builds a state-specific last will and testament — and the self-proving affidavit described above is worth completing at the same signing.
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link — it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
Which states require a will to be notarised — the whole list
One. Of the 46 jurisdictions whose execution statute we have read at the state’s own source, exactly one — Louisiana — requires a notary for the ordinary will form to be valid. In the other 45 a notary is optional in the only sense that matters: leave the notary out and the will still works, leave the witnesses out and it usually does not. That is the entire list, and it is one state long.
| The question underneath the question | How many | Which |
|---|---|---|
| States that require a notary for the will itself | 1 of 46 | Louisiana — and only for the notarial testament, its ordinary form |
| States where a notary may stand in for the witnesses | 2 | Colorado and North Dakota — an alternative path, not an addition |
| States that require no attesting witnesses at all | 1 | Pennsylvania, for a will the testator signs |
| States with no self-proving affidavit to notarise | 3 | California, Louisiana and Ohio |
| States where the self-proving clause needs no notary either | 8 | Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma and West Virginia |
The last row is the one nobody publishes. The standard advice stops at “the notary is for the affidavit, not the will” — and in 8 of the 41 that is not true either. Those statutes let the testator and the witnesses sign the self-proving clause under penalty of perjury, or before any officer authorised to administer oaths, rather than before a notary. Indiana’s is the plainest: the clause is “evidenced by the signatures of the testator and witnesses (which may be made under the penalties for perjury)” (IC 29-1-5-3.1(c)), and it names no officer, no acknowledgment and no seal. So an Indiana will can be validly executed and self-proved without a notary ever touching it.
South Dakota is the contrast that shows the rule. Its will needs no notary either (SDCL 29A-2-502(b)), but its self-proving affidavit is the standard model: sworn “before an officer authorized to administer oaths” and evidenced by that officer’s certificate under official seal (SDCL 29A-2-504). Same answer on the will, opposite answer on the affidavit — which is why “does a will need to be notarised” has to be asked twice.
Every statement above traces to statutory text read at a state legislature or official state code site. General information, not legal advice.
When a notary IS needed — for the self-proving affidavit, the deed, the power of attorney — the cost and whether it can be done over video are both set by statute: notary fee caps and remote notarization by state.