North Dakota Will and Trust Laws: Witnesses or Notary, E-Wills (2026)

Under North Dakota law, any adult of sound mind may make a will (N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-01), and the will must be in writing, signed by the testator, and then either signed by two witnesses or acknowledged by the testator before a notary public (N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-02(1)). North Dakota also recognizes holographic wills and, for the will of a decedent who dies after July 31, 2021, electronic wills. Living trusts are governed by the North Dakota Uniform Trust Code, chapters 59-09 through 59-19 of the Century Code.

Three features shape everything below: a notary acknowledgment can replace the witnesses, a will in the testator's handwriting needs no witnesses, and a living testator can ask a court to declare a will valid. The wills and trusts laws by state hub compares other states.

Information last verified on 2026-10-20. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers North Dakota statutes on making, signing, changing and revoking wills (N.D.C.C. Title 30.1, including chapters 30.1-05, 30.1-06, 30.1-08, 30.1-08.1, 30.1-10, 30.1-11 and 30.1-37) and on revocable living trusts (the North Dakota Uniform Trust Code, chapters 59-09 to 59-19). It does not cover what happens when someone dies without a will or how estates are administered (see North Dakota probate), small-estate procedures (see the North Dakota small estate affidavit page), powers of attorney (see North Dakota power of attorney laws), or taxes. A living will is a health-care directive, not a will; see the North Dakota advance directive tool.

What makes a will valid in North Dakota?

Section 30.1-08-01 sets capacity: "Any adult who is of sound mind may make a will." Section 14-10-02 defines adults: "All persons eighteen years of age and over are adults."

Section 30.1-08-02(1) sets the form:

"1. Except as provided in subsection 2 and in sections 30.1-08-06 and 30.1-08-13, a will must be: a. In writing. b. Signed by the testator or in the testator's name by some other individual in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction. c. Either signed: (1) By at least two individuals, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after witnessing either the signing of the will as described in subdivision b or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature or acknowledgment of the will; or (2) Acknowledged by the testator before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments." (N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-02(1))

That gives a person making a will in North Dakota two ways to complete a typed or printed will:

• Two witnesses. Each witness must have seen the testator sign, or heard the testator acknowledge the signature or the will, and must sign "within a reasonable time after" that. The section sets no number of days.
• A notary instead of witnesses. The testator acknowledges the will "before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments." No witnesses are required on this route.

Who can be a witness

Under section 30.1-08-05, "1. Any person generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will. 2. A will or any provision thereof is not invalid because the will is signed by an interested witness."

Wills signed in another state or country

Section 30.1-08-06 provides that "A written will is valid if executed in compliance with section 30.1-08-02 or if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the place where the will is executed, or of the law of the place where at the time of execution or at the time of death the testator is domiciled, has a place of abode, or is a national."

Self-proved wills

A will that uses witnesses can also be made self-proved. Under section 30.1-08-04(1):

"1. A will that is executed with attesting witnesses 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 in which execution occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, attached or annexed to the will in substantially the following form:" (N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-04(1))

Subsection 2 of the same section allows an attested will to be made self-proved after it is signed. Subsection 3 adds that "A signature affixed to a self-proving affidavit attached to a will is considered a signature affixed to the will, if necessary to prove the will's due execution." The statutory forms are in section 30.1-08-04 and are not reproduced here. How a will is admitted to probate is covered on the North Dakota probate page.

The self-proving affidavit and the notary-acknowledgment route are different things. A notarized acknowledgment under 30.1-08-02(1)(c)(2) is a way of executing the will without witnesses; the self-proving procedure in 30.1-08-04 applies to "a will that is executed with attesting witnesses."

The routes differ if the will's execution is contested. Under section 30.1-15-06, a self-proved will "complies with the requirements for execution without the testimony of any attesting witness," upon filing the will with its acknowledgment and affidavits, "unless there is evidence of fraud or forgery affecting the acknowledgment or affidavit." A will notarized under 30.1-08-02(1)(c)(2) but not self-proved carries "a rebuttable presumption that the will complies with the requirements for execution upon filing the will." A witnessed will that is neither notarized nor self-proved needs the testimony of at least one attesting witness "if the witness is within this state, competent, and able to testify," although proper execution "may be established by other evidence, including an affidavit of an attesting witness."

Are handwritten (holographic) wills valid in North Dakota?

Yes. Section 30.1-08-02(2) provides:

"2. A will that does not comply with subsection 1 is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting." (N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-02(2))

The signature and the "material portions" must be in the testator's handwriting; the statute does not require every word to be handwritten. Under 30.1-08-02(3), intent that a document be the testator's will "can be established by extrinsic evidence, including, for holographic wills, portions of the document that are not in the testator's handwriting." North Dakota's older stand-alone holographic-will section, 30.1-08-03, was "Repealed by S.L. 1993, ch. 334"; the rule now sits in 30.1-08-02(2).

No harmless-error rule

Chapter 30.1-08 contains no section that lets a court excuse a missing witness, signature or acknowledgment. The chapter moves from 30.1-08-02 (execution) to the repealed 30.1-08-03 and then to 30.1-08-04 (self-proved will); there is no counterpart to the Uniform Probate Code's harmless-error section.

Are oral (nuncupative) wills valid?

No. Section 30.1-08-02(1) requires a will to be "In writing," and chapter 30.1-08 contains no section that allows an oral will.

Electronic wills

North Dakota recognizes electronic wills through chapter 30.1-37 of the Century Code, the Uniform Electronic Wills Act, created by House Bill 1077 of the 2021 session. The bill overview describes it as "AN ACT to create and enact chapter 30.1-37 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the Uniform Electronic Wills Act." Under section 2 of the enacted bill, "This Act applies to the will of a decedent who dies after July 31, 2021." Section 30.1-37-02 states the core rule: "An electronic will is a will for all purposes of the law of this state."

Signing an electronic will

Under section 30.1-37-04(1), subject to 30.1-37-06(4), an electronic will must be:

• "A record that is readable as text at the time of signing";
• signed by the testator, or by "Another individual in the testator's name, in the testator's conscious presence, and by the testator's direction"; and
• either "Signed by at least two individuals, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after witnessing" the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature or of the will, or "Acknowledged by the testator before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments."

Under 30.1-37-04(2), the testator's intent that the record be the testator's electronic will "may be established by extrinsic evidence."

Electronic wills made under another state's law

Section 30.1-37-03 provides that a will executed electronically but not in compliance with 30.1-37-04(1) "is an electronic will under this chapter if executed in compliance with the law of the jurisdiction where the testator is: 1. Physically located when the will is signed; or 2. Domiciled or resides when the will is signed or when the testator dies."

Revoking an electronic will, and paper copies

Under section 30.1-37-05, all or part of an electronic will is revoked by a later will that revokes it "expressly or by inconsistency," or by "A physical act, if it is established by a preponderance of the evidence that the testator, with the intent of revoking all or part of the will, performed the act or directed another individual who performed the act in the testator's physical presence."

Under section 30.1-37-07, "An individual may create a certified paper copy of an electronic will by affirming under penalty of perjury that a paper copy of the electronic will is a complete, true, and accurate copy of the electronic will. If the electronic will is made self-proving, the certified paper copy of the will must include the self-proving affidavits." Section 30.1-37-06 governs making an electronic will self-proving at the time of execution.

Remote notarization

North Dakota's notary law allows a notary public located in North Dakota to perform a notarial act for a remotely located individual by communication technology (N.D.C.C. 44-06.1-13.1). Under subsection 3, the notary must have personal knowledge of the individual's identity, satisfactory evidence through a credible witness, or "at least two different types of identity proofing"; must be able reasonably to confirm that the record is the same one the individual signed; and must create "an audiovisual recording of the performance of the notarial act." Additional conditions apply when the individual is outside the United States.

For a paper record that is not physically in front of the notary, subsection 5 requires the individual, during the audiovisual recording, to sign the record and a declaration in the statutory form, and to send the record and declaration to the notary "not later than three days after the notarial act was performed."

Because a North Dakota will can be completed by the testator's acknowledgment before a notary, that notarized-acknowledgment route may be carried out with a notary by communication technology, on the conditions above. Section 44-06.1-13.1 is a notary rule. It does not provide for will witnesses to attend by video.

Validating a will during the testator's lifetime

North Dakota allows a will to be tested in court before death. Section 30.1-08.1-01 provides:

"Any person who executes a will disposing of the person's estate in accordance with this title may institute a proceeding under chapter 32-23 for a judgment declaring the validity of the will as to the signature on the will, the required number of witnesses to the signature and their signatures, and the testamentary capacity and freedom from undue influence of the person executing the will." (N.D.C.C. 30.1-08.1-01)

The section names chapter 32-23 as the procedure for the proceeding.

Changing or revoking a North Dakota will

Revoking a will

Under section 30.1-08-07(1), a will or any part of it is revoked:

• "By executing a subsequent will that revokes the previous will or part expressly or by inconsistency"; or
• "By performing a revocatory act on the will, if the testator performed the act with the intent and for the purpose of revoking the will or part or if another individual performed the act in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction."

A revocatory act "includes burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying the will or any part of it," and a burn, tear or cancellation counts "whether or not the burn, tear, or cancellation touched any of the words on the will."

Under section 30.1-08-08, "Except as provided in sections 30.1-10-03 and 30.1-10-04, a change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it." Those exceptions are homicide and divorce.

Reviving a revoked will

Under section 30.1-08-09(1), if a later will that wholly revoked an earlier will is itself revoked by a revocatory act, "the previous will remains revoked unless it is revived. The previous will is revived if it is evident from the circumstances of the revocation of the subsequent will or from the testator's contemporary or subsequent declarations that the testator intended the previous will to take effect as executed."

Divorce and annulment

Section 30.1-10-04 is North Dakota's divorce rule, and it reaches beyond the will. Except as provided by the express terms of a governing instrument, a court order, or a contract relating to the division of the marital estate made between the divorced individuals, a divorce or annulment:

• revokes any revocable disposition or appointment of property to the former spouse in a governing instrument, and any disposition or appointment to a relative of the former spouse;
• revokes any revocable provision giving the former spouse, or a relative of the former spouse, a general or special power of appointment, and any revocable nomination of either "to serve in any fiduciary or representative capacity, including a personal representative, executor, trustee, conservator, agent, or guardian"; and
• severs property the former spouses held as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, "transforming the interests of former spouses into equal tenancies in common."

Its definitions set the limits. For this section, a "governing instrument" is one "executed by the divorced individual before the divorce or annulment of the marriage to the former spouse," and "A decree of separation that does not terminate the status of husband and wife is not a divorce for purposes of this section" (30.1-10-04(1)). The general definition in section 30.1-01-06 lists what a governing instrument can be: "a deed, will, trust, insurance or annuity policy, account with payable on death designation, security registered in beneficiary form transferable on death, pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, instrument creating or exercising a power of appointment or a power of attorney," or a similar instrument. A revocable living trust and a revocable beneficiary designation signed before the divorce are therefore covered on the same conditions.

Revoked provisions take effect as if the former spouse and relatives disclaimed them, and a revoked nomination as if they died immediately before the divorce (30.1-10-04(4)). Under 30.1-10-04(5), "Provisions revoked solely by this section are revived by the divorced individual's remarriage to the former spouse or by a nullification of the divorce or annulment." Under 30.1-10-04(3), a severance does not affect a third party who acquired an interest for value in good-faith reliance on an apparent survivorship title, unless a writing declaring the severance was recorded in the appropriate records.

Federal law limits the beneficiary-designation part of this rule. For employer plans governed by ERISA, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, 532 U.S. 141 (2001), that federal law pre-empts a state statute that revokes a spouse's beneficiary designation on divorce, as applied to those plans (see the wills and trusts hub).

Marriage after the will

Under section 30.1-06-01(1), a surviving spouse who married the testator after the will was executed is entitled to "no less than the value of the share of the estate the surviving spouse would have received if the testator had died intestate" as to the part of the estate not devised to (or passing by anti-lapse to) a child of the testator born before the marriage who is not the surviving spouse's child, or that child's descendants. That share does not apply if the will was made in contemplation of the marriage, if the will says it is to be effective notwithstanding a later marriage, or if the testator provided for the spouse outside the will in lieu of a provision in it.

Children born or adopted after the will

Under section 30.1-06-02(1)(a), and except as subsection 2 provides, if the testator had no child living when the will was executed, a child born or adopted afterward and not provided for in the will "receives a share in the estate equal in value to that which the child would have received had the testator died intestate, unless the will devised all or substantially all the estate to the other parent of the omitted child and that other parent survives the testator and is entitled to take under the will." The same section sets a different, limited share when the testator had living children at the time of the will. Neither share applies if "it appears from the will that the omission was intentional," or if the testator provided for the child by a transfer outside the will intended to replace a provision in it (30.1-06-02(2)). A living child left out of the will solely because the testator believed the child to be dead shares as if born or adopted after the will (30.1-06-02(3)).

Limits on what a North Dakota will can do

Elective share. Under section 30.1-05-01(1), "The surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled in this state has a right of election, under the limitations and conditions stated in this chapter, to take an elective share amount equal to fifty percent of the augmented estate." Under 30.1-05-01(2), if the sum of certain amounts described in the elective-share sections is less than $75,000, the spouse "is entitled to a supplemental elective-share amount equal to seventy-five thousand dollars minus the sum of the amounts described in those sections." Under 30.1-05-01(3), the spouse's homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance are "in addition to" the elective-share amounts.

The deadline is in section 30.1-05-05(1): except as subsection 2 provides, the spouse files a petition in court, and mails or delivers it to the personal representative, "within nine months after the date of the decedent's death, or within six months after the probate of the decedent's will, whichever limitation later expires."

Omitted spouse and child. Sections 30.1-06-01 and 30.1-06-02, described above, protect a spouse married after the will and a child born or adopted after it.

No-contest clauses. Section 30.1-20-05 provides: "A provision in a will purporting to penalize an interested person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate is unenforceable if probable cause exists for instituting proceedings." The section speaks of a provision in a will; chapters 59-09 through 59-22 contain no separate penalty-clause section for trusts.

Homicide. Under section 30.1-10-03(2), "An individual who intentionally and feloniously kills the decedent forfeits all benefits under this title with respect to the decedent's estate," including an elective share and allowances, and under 30.1-10-03(3) the killing revokes revocable dispositions, powers of appointment and fiduciary nominations in favor of the killer in the decedent's governing instruments.

What a spouse and children receive when there is no will at all is explained on the North Dakota probate page.

Gifts of personal items by separate list

Under section 30.1-08-13, "Whether or not the provisions relating to holographic wills apply, a will may refer to a written statement or list to dispose of items of tangible personal property not otherwise specifically disposed of by the will, other than money." The writing "must be signed by the testator and must describe the items and the devisees with reasonable certainty," and it may be prepared before or after the will and altered later.

Keeping the will safe, and the custodian's duty

Under section 30.1-11-01, "A will may be deposited by the testator or the testator's agent with a recorder for safekeeping. The will must be sealed and kept confidential." During the testator's lifetime it is delivered only to the testator or to a person the testator authorizes in a signed writing. After the testator's death, the recorder notifies any designated person or delivers the will to the appropriate court, and must deliver it to the court on the written request of an interested person that includes the court's address and a copy of the death certificate or obituary.

Section 30.1-11-02 provides that after the testator's death, "on request of an interested person, a person having custody of a will of the testator shall deliver it with reasonable promptness to a person able to secure its probate, and if none is known, to an appropriate court." A person who "willfully fails to deliver a will is liable to any person aggrieved for any damages," and one who willfully refuses after a court order "is subject to penalty for contempt of court."

Revocable living trusts in North Dakota

The trust code

Under section 59-09-01, "Chapters 59-09, 59-10, 59-11, 59-12, 59-13, 59-14, 59-15, 59-16, 59-17, 59-18, and 59-19 may be cited as the North Dakota Uniform Trust Code." Section 59-09-03 defines "revocable," as applied to a trust, as "revocable by the settlor without the consent of the trustee or a person holding an adverse interest."

Creating a trust

Under section 59-12-02(1), "A trust is created only if the settlor has capacity to create a trust, the settlor indicates an intention to create the trust, the trust has a definite beneficiary" (or is a charitable trust, a trust for the care of an animal or a trust for a noncharitable purpose), "the trustee has duties to perform; and the same person is not the sole trustee and sole beneficiary."

The code does not always require a written instrument. Section 59-12-07 provides:

"Except as required by section 47-11-02 or a statute other than chapters 59-09, 59-10, 59-11, 59-12, 59-13, 59-14, 59-15, 59-16, 59-17, 59-18, and 59-19, a trust need not be evidenced by a trust instrument, but the creation of an oral trust and its terms, or an amendment or revocation of an oral trust, may be established only by clear and convincing evidence." (N.D.C.C. 59-12-07)

Real property is one exception. Under section 59-12-18, "A trust in relation to real property is not valid unless the trust is created or declared: 1. By a written instrument, subscribed by the trustee or by the trustee's agent thereto authorized in writing; 2. By the instrument under which the trustee claims the estate affected; or 3. By operation of law." Neither section adds a witness or notary requirement for a trust created during the settlor's lifetime.

A trust instrument may be electronic. Chapter 59-22, the Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act (Senate Bill 2127 of 2025), covers records that create, modify or revoke a trust instrument and a certification of trust under 59-18-13, among other nontestamentary estate-planning documents; its definition excludes a document that is a will or contained in a will (59-22-01(5)). Under section 59-22-06, such a document or its signature "may not be denied legal effect or enforceability because the document or signature is in electronic form," and an electronic record or signature satisfies another law's writing or signature requirement. Where another law requires the document to be signed, witnessed or attested in the signer's presence, "the presence requirement is satisfied if the individuals are in each other's electronic presence" (59-22-09(2)). The chapter does not apply to a document that precludes use of an electronic record or signature (59-22-03(2)). Electronic wills are governed separately by chapter 30.1-37.

Capacity

Under section 59-09-04.1, "The capacity required of a settlor is the same as that required to make a will and is required to create, amend, revoke, or add property to a trust, to direct the actions of the trustee where permitted, and to exercise powers and rights, if any, reserved or granted to the settlor under the terms of the trust or applicable law."

Revocable by default, with a date limit

Section 59-14-02(1) states: "Unless the terms of a trust expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable, the settlor may revoke or amend the trust. This subsection does not apply to a trust created under an instrument executed before August 1, 2007."

When more than one settlor creates or funds a revocable trust, section 59-14-02(2) lets each settlor revoke or amend as to the portion attributable to that settlor's contribution (for community property, either spouse may revoke alone, but amendment requires both), and the trustee "shall promptly notify the other settlors" when fewer than all of them revoke or amend.

How to revoke or amend a revocable trust

Under section 59-14-02(3), "The settlor may revoke or amend a revocable trust by substantial compliance with a method provided in the terms of the trust or, if the terms of the trust do not provide a method or the method provided in the terms is not expressly made exclusive, by a later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust or any other method manifesting clear and convincing evidence of the settlor's intent."

Creditors

Under section 59-13-05(1), "During the lifetime of the settlor, the property of a revocable trust is subject to claims of the settlor's creditors to the extent that the property would be subject to creditors' claims if the property had not been placed in the trust." After the settlor's death, property of a trust that was revocable immediately before death is subject to the settlor's creditors, the costs of administering the estate, funeral expenses and statutory allowances to a surviving spouse and children "to the extent the settlor's probate estate is inadequate," and the section defines statutory allowances to include "any homestead exception under chapter 47-18 and the allowances included in title 30.1." The homestead exemption itself is covered on the North Dakota homestead exemption page.

Certification of trust

Under section 59-18-13(1), the trustee may furnish a certification of trust that includes "that the trust exists and the effective date of the trust instrument, the name of the trust, if a name is given, the identity of each settlor, the identity and address of the currently acting trustee, the applicable powers of the trustee," the trust's revocability and anyone holding a power to revoke it, and the authority of co-trustees. Any trustee may sign it (59-18-13(2)); it must state that the trust has not been revoked, modified or amended in a way that makes it incorrect (59-18-13(3)); and it "need not contain the dispositive terms of a trust" (59-18-13(4)). A recipient may require excerpts of the instrument that designate the trustee and confer the power to act (59-18-13(5)). A person who acts in reliance on the certification "without knowledge that the representations contained therein are incorrect is not liable to any person for so acting" (59-18-13(6)).

Notice to beneficiaries after the settlor dies

Under section 59-16-13(2)(d), a trustee must notify the qualified beneficiaries "of the trust existence, of the identity of the settlor, of the right to request a copy of the trust instrument, and of the right of the trustee's report" within sixty days after the trustee acquires knowledge "That a formerly revocable trust has become irrevocable." Under 59-16-13(2)(h), that duty does not apply to a trustee that accepted a trusteeship before August 1, 2007, to an irrevocable trust created before that date, or "to a revocable trust that becomes irrevocable before August 1, 2007."

Contesting a trust

Section 59-10.1-03 sets the limit. A proceeding "may not be commenced later than the earliest of the following":

1. "One hundred twenty days after the date the trustee notified the individual contesting the trust of the trust's existence or amendment." The notice must include the trustee's name and address and a copy of the trust instrument with any amendments, and must state the time allowed to contest. Notice is presumed received on delivery to the person's last known address.
2. "Three years after the settlor's death."
3. "If the trust was revocable immediately before the settlor's death and the trust was specifically referred to in the settlor's last will, then the time in which a petition for review of a will could be filed under state law."
4. "The date an individual's right to contest was precluded by adjudication, consent, or other limitation."

Pour-over wills

Section 30.1-08-11(1) allows a will to "validly devise property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established during the testator's lifetime by the testator, by the testator and some other person, or by some other person including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust," or at the testator's death by devise, "if the trust is identified in the testator's will and its terms are set forth in a written instrument, other than a will," executed before, with or after the will, or in the will of another individual who predeceased the testator, "regardless of the existence, size, or character of the corpus of the trust." The devise "is not invalid because the trust is amendable or revocable, or because the trust was amended after the execution of the will or the testator's death."

Under 30.1-08-11(2), unless the will provides otherwise, the property is not held in a testamentary trust but "becomes a part of the trust to which it is devised" and is administered under the trust's terms, including later amendments. Under 30.1-08-11(3), "Unless the testator's will provides otherwise, a revocation or termination of the trust before the testator's death causes the devise to lapse."

North Dakota wills and trusts at a glance

Recent changes

• Senate Bill 2127 (2025), S.L. 2025, ch. 576. Created chapter 59-22, the Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act, covering electronic trust instruments, amendments and revocations, certifications of trust and other nontestamentary estate-planning documents. It was approved March 25, 2025, and its application section states that it "applies to an electronic nontestamentary estate planning document created, signed, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored before, on, or after July 31, 2025."
• House Bill 1077 (2021). Created chapter 30.1-37, the Uniform Electronic Wills Act. It was signed by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on March 10, 2021. The act applies to the will of a decedent who dies after July 31, 2021.

Making a will in practice

The site's free North Dakota will-maker tool can help draft a basic will. Whatever produces the document, signing must follow section 30.1-08-02, through either two witnesses or the testator's acknowledgment before a notary, and a witnessed will can be made self-proved under 30.1-08-04 at the same time. Complex estates, blended families, business interests or tax questions are reasons to consult a lawyer licensed in North Dakota. The tool is not legal advice.

Members of the armed forces have a federal option as well: under 10 U.S.C. 1044d, a military testamentary instrument is exempt from state formalities and has the same legal effect as a will executed under the law of the state where it is presented for probate (see the wills and trusts hub).

Related pages

• Wills and trusts laws by state
• North Dakota probate
• North Dakota small estate affidavit
• North Dakota power of attorney laws
• North Dakota homestead exemption

This article provides general legal information about North Dakota law on wills and revocable trusts as of 2026-10-20. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in North Dakota or the clerk of district court in your county.

Last updated: 2026-10-20.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many witnesses does a will need in North Dakota?

Two, unless the testator instead acknowledges the will before a notary public or other individual authorized to take acknowledgments (N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-02(1)(c)). Each witness signs within a reasonable time after witnessing the signing or the testator's acknowledgment. A holographic will needs no witnesses (30.1-08-02(2)).

Can a North Dakota will be notarized instead of witnessed?

Yes. Under N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-02(1)(c)(2), a written, signed will is valid if acknowledged by the testator before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments, as an alternative to two witnesses. If execution is contested, a notarized will that is not self-proved carries a rebuttable presumption of proper execution (30.1-15-06(2)), while a self-proved will needs no attesting witness's testimony (30.1-15-06(1)).

Is a handwritten will valid in North Dakota?

Yes. Under N.D.C.C. 30.1-08-02(2), a will that does not meet the witness or notary rule is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting.

Are oral wills valid in North Dakota?

No. Section 30.1-08-02(1) requires a will to be in writing, and chapter 30.1-08 contains no section allowing an oral (nuncupative) will.

Are electronic wills legal in North Dakota?

Yes, for the will of a decedent who dies after July 31, 2021. Chapter 30.1-37, the Uniform Electronic Wills Act enacted in 2021 by House Bill 1077, provides that an electronic will is a will for all purposes (30.1-37-02). It must be readable as text, signed, and either signed by two witnesses or acknowledged before a notary (30.1-37-04).

Does divorce revoke a will in North Dakota?

Under N.D.C.C. 30.1-10-04, divorce or annulment revokes revocable gifts, powers of appointment and fiduciary nominations for the former spouse and the former spouse's relatives in a will signed before the divorce, unless the will, a court order or a contract dividing the marital estate provides otherwise. The same section reaches trusts and other governing instruments with conditions; see the divorce section above.

Can I disinherit my spouse in North Dakota?

A surviving spouse of a decedent domiciled in North Dakota may elect 50 percent of the augmented estate, with a supplemental amount when certain sums fall below $75,000 (N.D.C.C. 30.1-05-01). The petition must be filed within nine months after death or six months after probate of the will, whichever expires later, except as 30.1-05-05(2) provides.

Can a will be validated before death in North Dakota?

Yes. Under N.D.C.C. 30.1-08.1-01, a person who executes a will may bring a declaratory-judgment proceeding to have its validity declared as to the signature, the witnesses, testamentary capacity and freedom from undue influence.

Is a living trust revocable in North Dakota?

For a trust created under an instrument executed on or after August 1, 2007, yes, unless its terms expressly provide that it is irrevocable (N.D.C.C. 59-14-02(1)). That default does not apply to trusts created under earlier instruments.

How long do you have to contest a trust in North Dakota?

Under N.D.C.C. 59-10.1-03, no later than the earliest of 120 days after the trustee's notice (with a copy of the trust), three years after the settlor's death, the will-contest period for a revocable trust named in the settlor's last will, or the date the right was otherwise precluded.