Make your own Idaho will.
Yours in about 20 minutes. Legally valid in Idaho. Free to create, or add secure online document storage with the $29/year subscription.
Is a self-written will legal in Idaho?
Yes. Idaho recognizes wills you write yourself, as long as they meet the state's signing requirements. The governing statute is Idaho Code §15-2-501 et seq.
Your will needs to be in writing, signed by you, and witnessed by 2 adults. You don't need a notary for the will itself to be valid, but adding a notarized "self-proving" affidavit makes the probate process faster later (this tool generates that for you automatically). Idaho also recognizes handwritten ("holographic") wills, written entirely in your own handwriting and signed.
You must be at least 18 years old and of sound mind. An emancipated minor may also make a will (Idaho Code §15-2-501). Choose witnesses who don't inherit under your will: some states void or reduce a gift to a witness, and the exact Idaho rule is covered below. This tool walks you through the rules so you don't trip over them.
A will you write yourself has the same legal force as one drafted by an attorney, provided you follow the signing rules. Courts admit self-written wills to probate every day. An attorney's value is in advising on complex estates, not in drafting the document itself.
What it costs to make a will in Idaho
A Idaho estate-planning attorney typically charges $300 to $600 for a simple will, and $1,000 to $1,500 for a will-plus-revocable-trust package. Rates run higher in dense metros and lower in rural areas. Most attorneys bill at $250 to $400 per hour and need one or two meetings to draft a basic will.
You can also write a will entirely from scratch with a sheet of paper and a pen, with no software at all. Idaho requires the same 2-witness signing process regardless of who drafts the document. The risk with a from-scratch will is technical: a missing self-proving affidavit, a witness who's also a beneficiary, or wording that creates ambiguity for the probate court. That's what this tool prevents.
Will.com is free at the document level. The $29/year subscription adds cloud-stored, zero-knowledge-encrypted access so you can edit and update your plan as life changes.
Idaho will requirements at a glance
How it works
- 1
Answer a few questions
About you, your family, and what you own.
- 2
Download your will
A complete, personalized document, formatted for Idaho courts.
- 3
Sign with witnesses
Print and sign in front of 2 adult witnesses. Keep the signed copy somewhere safe.
When you might want an attorney instead
An online will works for most people. It's the right tool when your situation is straightforward: you want to leave your assets to family or friends, you don't have complex tax issues, and you're not anticipating a fight over your estate.
Consider hiring an attorney if any of these apply:
- Your estate is large enough to trigger federal estate tax (over $15 million in 2026) or Idaho estate or inheritance tax.
- You own a business, complex investments, or assets in multiple states or countries.
- You're in a blended family, especially if you want to leave assets to a current spouse while protecting children from a prior relationship.
- You have a child or beneficiary with special needs and want a supplemental-needs trust that won't disqualify them from public benefits.
- You expect someone to contest the will, or you're disinheriting a close family member.
- You have substantial retirement accounts and want sophisticated beneficiary planning.
If none of these apply, an online will is genuinely fine. The legal validity of your will doesn't depend on who drafted it, only on whether Idaho's signing rules were followed.
Self-proving affidavit in Idaho
Idaho recognizes self-proving affidavits. Will.com attaches one to your will: a short statement your witnesses sign in front of a notary, swearing to what they saw when you signed. See Idaho Code §15-2-504.
A self-proven will skips the requirement to track down witnesses years later for the probate court. It's optional, but adding the affidavit at signing time saves your executor work. Will.com generates the affidavit alongside the will.
Who can witness your will in Idaho
Idaho Code §15-2-505: any person eighteen or more years of age and generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will, and a will or any provision of it is not invalid because the will is signed by an interested witness. Idaho follows the UPC rule and has no purge statute, so a gift to an attesting witness remains effective, but Idaho adds one requirement most UPC states omit: a witness must be at least 18 years old. Using witnesses who take nothing under the will is still the safer practice.
Family changes after you sign
A child born or adopted after the will. A child who arrives after you sign, and who isn't named or accounted for in the will, is covered by Idaho law rather than by your wishes. The safest practice is to update your will when your family changes.
Idaho Code §15-2-302: a child born or adopted after the will was executed receives an intestate share unless it appears from the will that the omission was intentional, or the testator had one or more children when the will was executed and devised substantially all the estate to the omitted child's other parent, or the testator provided for the child by a transfer outside the will with the in-lieu intent shown by the testator's statements, by the amount of the transfer, or by other evidence. A living child omitted solely because the testator believed the child to be dead also takes an intestate share (§15-2-302(b)). Devises abate as provided in Idaho Code §15-3-902 (§15-2-302(c)).
A spouse you married after signing. Updating the will after marriage avoids relying on whatever Idaho law provides by default.
Idaho Code §15-2-301: a spouse who marries the testator after the will was executed receives the share he or she would have received if the decedent had left no will, unless it appears from the will that the omission was intentional, or the testator provided for the spouse by a transfer outside the will and the intent that the transfer be in lieu of a testamentary provision is shown by the testator's statements, by the amount of the transfer, or by other evidence; devises abate as provided in Idaho Code §15-3-902 (§15-2-301(b)).
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