Rhode Island Will and Trust Laws: Witnesses, Signing Rules (2026)

A Rhode Island will is valid when a person 18 or older and of sane mind (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-5-2) puts it in writing and signs it, or has someone sign for him or her in his or her presence and by express direction, and the signature is made or acknowledged in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time, who then attest and sign the will in the testator's presence (33-5-5). No notary is required, and a gift in the will to a person who witnesses it is void (33-6-1). Rhode Island has not enacted the Uniform Trust Code; its trust statutes are separate chapters of Title 18, including 18-4-27 on the validity of trusts and the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act (chapter 18-14).

Rhode Island's execution rules are strict: the will chapters have no handwritten-will exception, no electronic-will provision and no section that excuses a missed formality. For how other states compare, see our wills and trusts laws by state guide.

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

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Rhode Island statutes on making, signing, proving, changing and revoking wills (R.I. Gen. Laws chapters 33-5, 33-6, 33-7 and 33-28) and on living trusts (Title 18 and 34-4-27). It does not cover what happens when someone dies without a will or how probate works (see Rhode Island probate), small-estate procedures (see the Rhode Island small estate affidavit page), powers of attorney (see Rhode Island power of attorney laws), or taxes. A living will is a health-care directive, not a will; see the Rhode Island advance directive tool.

What makes a will valid in Rhode Island?

Who may make a will

Under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-5-2, "Every person of sane mind and eighteen (18) years or older in age, may devise, bequeath, or dispose of, by his or her will, executed in the manner required by this chapter, all real estate and all personal estate."

The signing and witnessing rule

Section 33-5-5 is the controlling execution statute:

"No will shall be valid, except as provided in ss 33-5-6 and 33-5-7, unless it shall be in writing and signed by the testator, or by some other person for him or her in his or her presence and by his or her express direction; and this signature shall be made or acknowledged by the testator in the presence of two (2) or more witnesses present at the same time, and the witnesses shall attest and shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator, but no form of attestation shall be necessary, and no other publication shall be necessary." (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-5-5)

The elements, read from the text:

• Writing and signature. The testator signs, or another person signs for the testator in the testator's presence and by the testator's express direction.
• Two or more witnesses, together. The testator makes or acknowledges the signature in the presence of two or more witnesses "present at the same time."
• Witnesses sign in the testator's presence. Each witness attests and subscribes in the testator's presence. Section 33-5-5 does not say the witnesses must sign in each other's presence.
• No set wording and no further publication. "No form of attestation shall be necessary, and no other publication shall be necessary."
• No notary. The section does not require one.

Witnesses who inherit under the will

Rhode Island takes the gift away from a beneficiary who witnesses the will. Under 33-6-1, if a person attests a will or codicil under which that person receives "any beneficial devise, legacy, estate, interest, gift, or appointment," the gift "shall, so far only as concerns that person attesting the execution of the will, or codicil, or any person claiming under that person, be utterly null and void; but the person so attesting shall be admitted as a witness to prove the execution of the will, or codicil." Section 33-6-1 contains no exception for a will that has other, disinterested witnesses.

Related sections cover other witnesses. A creditor who attests remains a competent witness (33-6-2), an executor or trustee named in the will may serve as a witness (33-6-4), and a beneficiary-witness who dies before the testator or before probate "shall be deemed to have been a legal witness" (33-6-3).

Wills signed in another state

Under 33-5-7, "Any last will and testament executed outside this state in the mode prescribed by the law, either of the place where executed or of the testator's domicile, shall be deemed to be legally executed, and shall be of the same force and effect as if executed in the mode prescribed by the laws of this state; provided, the last will and testament is in writing and subscribed by the testator."

Does a Rhode Island will need to be notarized? Proving a will at probate

No. Section 33-5-5 names witnesses, not a notary. Chapters 33-5 to 33-7 also contain no self-proving affidavit that the testator and witnesses sign at the time of execution. What Rhode Island has is a probate-evidence rule in 33-7-26:

"In the absence of objection by anyone interested in the estate of a deceased person, the probate court may admit to probate a purported will or codicil of the deceased person upon oral testimony or affidavit in the following manner: (1) The oral testimony of any one of the subscribing witnesses as to the due execution of any purported will or codicil shall constitute sufficient evidence thereof. (2) An affidavit by the subscribing witnesses or any one or more of them, to any purported will or codicil, executed at any time after execution of the will or codicil, whether before or after the death of the testator, before any officer authorized to administer oaths in or out of this state, stating the facts as the witnesses or witness would be required to testify to in court to prove the will or codicil, shall constitute sufficient evidence of the due execution of the purported will or codicil." (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-7-26)

Three points follow from the text:

• It only works without an objection. If anyone interested in the estate objects, 33-7-26 does not apply.
• The affidavit is sworn. It is made before an officer authorized to administer oaths, in or out of Rhode Island.
• Timing is flexible. The witnesses may sign it at any time after the will is executed, before or after the testator's death.

The section includes a form of affidavit; this page does not reproduce it. In that form (33-7-26(3)), the witnesses swear that the testator declared the document to be the will in their presence and that they signed in the testator's presence and in the presence of each other; 33-5-5 itself requires neither of those two steps. When subscribing witnesses are unavailable (for example, in the armed forces, dead or incapable), 33-7-10 lets the court admit the will "upon the testimony in person or by deposition of at least two (2) credible disinterested witnesses that the signature to the will is in the handwriting of the person whose will it purports to be, or upon other sufficient proof of the handwriting." The rest of the probate process is covered on the Rhode Island probate page.

Are handwritten (holographic) wills valid in Rhode Island?

Not as a separate category. Section 33-5-5 requires two or more witnesses for every will except as provided in 33-5-6 and 33-5-7, and chapters 33-5 to 33-7 contain no section that makes an unwitnessed handwritten will valid. A will in the testator's handwriting needs witnesses like any other.

There are two qualifications. A will executed outside Rhode Island under the law of the place of execution or the testator's domicile is treated as legally executed if it is in writing and subscribed by the testator (33-5-7). And 33-5-6, described next, preserves an older rule for service members and mariners.

Are oral (nuncupative) wills valid?

Chapters 33-5 to 33-7 contain no general section authorizing oral wills, and 33-5-5 requires a will to be in writing except as provided in 33-5-6 and 33-5-7. Section 33-5-6 reads in full: "Any soldier or airman in actual military service, or any mariner or sailor at sea, may dispose of his or her personal estate by will as he or she might heretofore have done." The section does not itself describe what form such a will may take, and it reaches only personal estate.

Electronic wills and remote witnessing

Rhode Island has no electronic-will statute. The state's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act excludes wills:

"(b) This chapter does not apply to a transaction to the extent it is governed by: (1) A law governing the creation and execution of wills, codicils, or testamentary trusts;" (R.I. Gen. Laws 42-127.1-3(b)(1))

Rhode Island does allow remote online notarization. Since June 30, 2022, under 42-30.1-12.1, "A notary public located in this state may perform a notarial act using communication technology for a remotely located individual if" the section's conditions are met, including that the notary "creates an audio-visual recording of the performance of the notarial act." That section governs notaries. It does not change 33-5-5, which requires the witnesses to be "present at the same time" when the testator signs or acknowledges the will and to sign "in the presence of the testator."

Is there a harmless-error rule?

No. Chapters 33-5, 33-6 and 33-7 contain no section that lets a court treat a document that misses a 33-5-5 formality as a valid will, and Rhode Island has no statutory will form.

Changing or revoking a Rhode Island will

Methods of revocation

Section 33-5-10 lists the only methods:

"No will or codicil or any part thereof shall be revoked except as provided in s 33-5-9, or by another will or codicil executed in the manner required by s 33-5-5, or by some writing declaring an intention to revoke the will and executed in the manner in which a will is required to be executed, or by burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the will by the testator, or by some person in his or her presence and by his or her direction, with the intention of revoking the will." (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-5-10)

Changed circumstances alone do not revoke a will: "No will shall be revoked by any presumption of intention on the ground of an alteration in circumstances" (33-5-11).

Marriage revokes an earlier will

Under 33-5-9, "The marriage of a person shall act as a revocation of a will made by him or her previous to the marriage, unless it appears from the will that it was made in contemplation thereof." The section also contains an exception for certain wills exercising a power of appointment.

Divorce

Under 33-5-9.1:

"The entry of a final judgment in the divorce of a person shall act as a revocation of all provisions for the benefit of the former spouse in a will made by the person prior to the divorce, unless it appears from the will that the will was made in contemplation of the divorce. All other provisions in the will shall take effect as though the former spouse had predeceased the person." (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-5-9.1)

Three limits are in the words themselves. The trigger is "the entry of a final judgment," not the filing of a divorce case. The section speaks of divorce and does not mention annulment. And it applies to "a will"; it does not mention revocable trusts, life insurance or other beneficiary designations.

Limits on what a Rhode Island will can do

Spouse's elective share. Chapter 33-28, enacted in 2014, gives a surviving spouse a right of election. Under 33-28-1(a), "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 equal to: (1) The life estate and allowance in an intestate's real estate titled in the name of the decedent individually at the time of the decedent's death pursuant to ss 33-1-5 and 33-1-6; and (2) The share of the decedent's personal estate subject to probate pursuant to s 33-1-10." The elective share "may be taken in kind or the value thereof."

The cross-referenced sections spell out what that share is:

• Life estate in real estate (33-1-5). The decedent's real estate titled in the decedent's name alone passes to the surviving spouse "for his or her natural life."
• Allowance of real estate in fee (33-1-6). The probate court "may also, in its discretion," set off to the spouse in fee Rhode Island real estate worth up to $150,000 "over and above all incumbrances, if not required for the payment of the debts." The allowance is in addition to the life estate.
• Personal estate (33-1-10). From the probate personal estate left after debts, funeral charges and the expenses of settling the estate, the spouse takes $50,000 plus one-half of the remainder if the decedent left no issue, or one-half if the decedent left issue.

Under 33-28-1(b), the spouse's allowances under chapter 10 of Title 33 "are not charged against, but are in addition to, the elective share."

The deadline is short. Under 33-28-4(a), a spouse who has been left a gift in the will and wants the elective share must, "within six (6) months after the date of the first publication of the qualifications of the fiduciary of the estate of the deceased spouse, file in the probate court a written statement waiving and renouncing the devise and bequest and petitioning for the elective share." If any of the decedent's real estate is in a city or town other than the one where the will is probated, the waiver and petition must also be filed in the records of deeds there (33-28-4(a)). Within the same six months, the spouse may petition the probate court for an extension of time "not to exceed nine (9) months after the decedent's death" (33-28-4(b)). The right can be waived under 33-28-3. The intestate shares the section refers to are explained on the Rhode Island probate page.

Children born after the will. Under 33-6-23, a child born after the will, or the issue of a deceased child, who is omitted from it "shall take the same share of the testator's estate as that child or issue would have been entitled to if the testator had died intestate, unless it appears that the omission was intentional and not occasioned by accident or mistake."

Gifts to beneficiaries who die first. Under 33-6-19, when a devisee or legatee dies before the testator leaving issue who survive the testator, the gift "shall not lapse, but shall take effect and operate as a devise or bequest from the testator to that issue, in such proportions as the estate of the devisee or legatee would go to them had he or she died intestate immediately after the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will."

Slayers. Under 33-1.1-2, "Neither the slayer nor any person claiming through him or her shall in any way acquire any property or receive any benefit as the result of the death of the decedent." For gifts by will, the slayer "shall be deemed to have predeceased the decedent," and the anti-lapse rule in 33-6-19 does not apply (33-1.1-4).

Keeping and delivering the original will

Under 33-7-5(a), "Every person, other than a probate clerk, who has custody of a will shall, within thirty (30) days after notice of the death of the testator, deliver the will into the probate court which has jurisdiction of the probate thereof, or to the executors named in the will." Destroying or hiding a will is a crime: under 33-7-7, "Any person who shall either during the life of the testator or after his or her death steal or for any fraudulent purpose destroy or conceal any will or other testamentary instrument, either before or after probate, shall be imprisoned in the adult correctional institutions for a term of not more than five (5) years."

Living trusts in Rhode Island

No Uniform Trust Code

Rhode Island has not adopted the Uniform Trust Code. Its trust statutes are a set of separate Title 18 chapters, including chapter 18-4 (powers of fiduciaries), chapter 18-9.1 (spendthrift trusts), chapter 18-14 (testamentary additions to trusts) and chapter 18-15 (prudent investor rule). Rules that come from the Uniform Trust Code in other states, such as a statutory revocation method, a contest deadline, a post-death notice duty or a general certification of trust, are not part of Rhode Island's statutes; for trust real estate, 34-4-27 provides a recorded affidavit or memorandum of trust (see below).

Validity of a revocable trust

The central statute is 18-4-27(a):

"(a) A trust which is otherwise valid and which has been created by a written instrument, including, but not limited to, a trust in which the principal is composed in whole or in part of real property, shall not be held invalid for any one or more of the following reasons: (1) Because the settlor, or another person, or both, possess the power to revoke, amend, alter, or modify the trust in whole or in part; ... (6) Because the settlor is the sole trustee and the sole current beneficiary of the trust during his or her lifetime." (R.I. Gen. Laws 18-4-27(a))

The section protects a written trust in which the settlor keeps the power to revoke or amend, and one in which the settlor is the only trustee and current beneficiary during life. It does not set a witness or notary requirement.

Revocability, amendment and contests

Title 18 and 34-4-27 contain no default rule on whether a trust is revocable when its instrument says nothing about revocation, no statutory method for revoking or amending a revocable trust, no deadline for contesting a trust after the settlor's death, no trustee duty to notify beneficiaries after death and no general certification-of-trust statute outside the real-estate affidavit or memorandum in 34-4-27. Those questions are governed by the trust instrument and Rhode Island case law, which this page does not cover.

Real estate held in trust

Rhode Island has a recording statute for trusts that hold land. Under 34-4-27, an affidavit or memorandum of trust may be recorded that states facts such as the trust's name, the settlor, the trustees and their powers, and whether the trust is revocable, and a transfer or mortgage of trust real estate by the trustees requires recording the trust instrument or that affidavit or memorandum. The affidavit or memorandum is executed by each settlor or by each current trustee, and "Any third party without actual knowledge to the contrary may rely on the validity of the statements contained in the affidavit or memorandum of trust" (34-4-27(a), (b)). Under 34-4-27(c), "Any amendment or revocation of a trust or an affidavit or memorandum thereof must be recorded to constitute notice to third parties."

Pour-over wills

A will may leave property to the trustee of a trust under the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act (chapter 18-14), and an older companion section, 33-6-33, covers gifts to the trustee of an existing trust. Under 18-14-2(b), "The devise or bequest 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." The limit is in 18-14-2(d): "Unless the testator's will provides otherwise, a revocation or termination of the trust before the testator's death causes the devise or bequest to lapse."

Rhode Island wills and trusts at a glance

Making a will in practice

The site's free Rhode Island will-maker tool can help draft a basic will. Whatever produces the document, signing must follow 33-5-5, with two or more witnesses present together, and because 33-6-1 voids any gift to an attesting witness, the choice of witnesses matters. Complex estates, blended families, business interests or tax questions are reasons to consult a lawyer licensed in Rhode Island. The tool is not legal advice.

Members of the armed forces have one 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
• Rhode Island probate
• Rhode Island small estate affidavit
• Rhode Island power of attorney laws

This article provides general legal information about Rhode Island law on wills and living trusts as of 2026-10-20. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Rhode Island or the probate court for your city or town.

Last updated: 2026-10-20.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many witnesses does a will need in Rhode Island?

Two or more. Under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-5-5, the testator signs or acknowledges the signature in the presence of the witnesses, who must be present at the same time, and the witnesses then attest and sign in the testator's presence.

Can a beneficiary witness a will in Rhode Island?

A beneficiary who attests the will can still serve as a witness to prove it, but under 33-6-1 any gift to that person under the will is void as to that person and anyone claiming under him or her. The section has no exception for a will with other witnesses.

Is a handwritten will valid in Rhode Island?

Only if it is witnessed under 33-5-5; Rhode Island has no separate rule for handwritten wills. A will executed outside Rhode Island under the law of the place of execution or the testator's domicile is treated as legally executed if it is in writing and subscribed by the testator (33-5-7).

Does a will have to be notarized in Rhode Island?

No. Section 33-5-5 does not require a notary. If no one objects at probate, the court may admit a will on a sworn affidavit of the witnesses made before an officer authorized to administer oaths at any time after the will is signed, or on one witness's testimony (33-7-26).

Can I make an electronic will in Rhode Island?

No statute provides for one. Rhode Island's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act does not apply to a law governing the creation and execution of wills (42-127.1-3(b)(1)), and 33-5-5 requires a written, signed will with witnesses present at the same time.

Does marriage or divorce revoke a will in Rhode Island?

Marriage revokes a will made before it unless the will shows it was made in contemplation of the marriage (33-5-9). The entry of a final divorce judgment revokes will provisions for the former spouse unless the will was made in contemplation of the divorce (33-5-9.1); that section covers wills only.

How long does a spouse have to claim the elective share in Rhode Island?

A spouse left a gift in the will must file a written waiver of the gift and a petition for the elective share in the probate court within six months after the first publication of the fiduciary's qualification (33-28-4). Within that same period, the spouse may petition for an extension of time not to exceed nine months after the death (33-28-4(b)).

Is a living trust revocable in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island's statutes do not set a default rule. Section 18-4-27 provides that a written trust is not invalid because the settlor keeps the power to revoke or amend it, so whether a trust can be revoked depends on its terms and case law, which this page does not cover.