Updated August 1, 2026. Quick answer: they usually can, and they usually should not. Across the 40 states whose interested-witness statute we have read, 25 void or cut back the gift to a witness who inherits while leaving the will standing, and 14 treat it as a non-event. The asymmetry is the whole answer: a disinterested witness is never worse, and in the purging states the difference is your beneficiary’s entire inheritance.
Three rules, one instruction
Purging. The will is fine; the gift to that witness is void, or reduced to what they would have inherited anyway if there had been no will. New York is the sharpest version: the gift is void unless two other disinterested witnesses signed (EPTL § 3-3.2).
No effect. Modern Uniform-Probate-Code states removed the penalty entirely: signing by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it (Minn. Stat. § 524.2-505(b) states it in exactly those words).
Disqualification. The strictest approach does not purge the gift — it makes the person ineligible to be one of your required witnesses in the first place, which means you may simply not have enough valid witnesses. Arizona bars a devisee and their blood, marriage or adoptive relatives from witnessing a non-self-proved will (A.R.S. § 14-2505(A)-(C)). That is a far wider net than most people assume, and it catches the spouse of a beneficiary.
Washington sits slightly apart: rather than voiding the gift, the statute creates a rebuttable presumption that the witness procured the gift by duress, menace, fraud or undue influence (RCW 11.12.160). The gift can survive — after a fight your beneficiary has to win.
By state
| State | What happens | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Will and gift both stand | Ala. Code § 43-8-134(b) |
| Alaska | Will and gift both stand | AS 13.12.505(b) |
| Arizona | The witness is disqualified, which can take the will down with it | A.R.S. § 14-2505(A)-(C) |
| California | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | Cal. Prob. Code § 6112(c)-(d) |
| Colorado | Will and gift both stand | C.R.S. § 15-11-505(2) |
| Connecticut | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-258 |
| Delaware | Will and gift both stand | 12 Del. C. § 203(b) |
| District of Columbia | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | D.C. Code § 18-104(a)-(b) |
| Florida | Will and gift both stand | Fla. Stat. § 732.504(2) |
| Hawaii | Will and gift both stand | HRS § 560:2-505(b) |
| Idaho | Will and gift both stand | Idaho Code § 15-2-505(b) |
| Illinois | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | 755 ILCS 5/4-6 |
| Iowa | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | Iowa Code § 633.281 |
| Kansas | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | K.S.A. 59-604 |
| Kentucky | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | KRS 394.210(2) |
| Louisiana | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | La. Civ. Code art. 1582 |
| Maine | Will and gift both stand | 18-C M.R.S. § 2-504(2) |
| Massachusetts | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | M.G.L. c.190B, § 2-505(b) |
| Minnesota | Will and gift both stand | Minn. Stat. § 524.2-505(b) |
| Missouri | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 474.330 |
| Montana | Will and gift both stand | Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-525(2) |
| Nebraska | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2330 |
| Nevada | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | NRS 133.060 |
| New Hampshire | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | RSA 551:3 |
| New York | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | EPTL § 3-3.2 |
| North Carolina | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | N.C.G.S. § 31-10(a) |
| North Dakota | Will and gift both stand | N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-05(2) |
| Ohio | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | ORC 2107.15 |
| Oklahoma | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | 84 O.S. § 143 |
| Oregon | Will and gift both stand | ORS 112.245 |
| Rhode Island | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-6-1 |
| South Carolina | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | S.C. Code Ann. § 62-2-504(a) |
| Texas | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | Tex. Est. Code § 254.002(a)-(c) |
| Utah | Will and gift both stand | Utah Code § 75-2-505(2) |
| Vermont | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | 14 V.S.A. § 10 |
| Virginia | Will and gift both stand | Va. Code § 64.2-405 |
| Washington | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | RCW 11.12.160 |
| West Virginia | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | W. Va. Code § 41-2-1 |
| Wisconsin | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | Wis. Stat. § 853.07(2)(b) |
| Wyoming | Gift to the witness is void or cut back; the will still stands | Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 2-6-112(a) |
Who to actually ask
Neighbours, colleagues, your lawyer’s staff, the notary’s office. Not your children, not the residuary beneficiary, and — in the strict states — not their spouses either. If the will names a professional executor, check whether your state treats an executor’s fee as a beneficial interest before using them as a witness; where our reading did not settle that, we have left it out of the table rather than guessing.
Witness counts and the rest of the formalities by state, and why the notary is not the part that matters.
When you are ready to sign
The fix costs nothing: two witnesses who inherit nothing under the document. If the will itself is still to be written, LawDepot builds a state-specific last will and testament, and the witness rule above is the part to get right on the day you sign it.
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.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or code site. General information, not legal advice.
The practical side of getting a signing done correctly — what a notary may charge and whether your state allows it remotely — is here.