Will.com / Wills / West Virginia
Make your own West Virginia will.
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Is a self-written will legal in West Virginia?
Yes. West Virginia recognizes wills you write yourself, as long as they meet the state's signing requirements. The governing statute is W. Va. Code §41-1-1 et seq.
Your will needs to be in writing, signed by you, and witnessed by 2 adults who are present at the same time. 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). West Virginia 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. Choose witnesses who don't inherit under your will: some states void or reduce a gift to a witness, and the exact West Virginia 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 West Virginia
A West Virginia 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. West Virginia 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.
West Virginia 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 West Virginia 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 West Virginia 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 West Virginia's signing rules were followed.
Self-proving affidavit in West Virginia
West Virginia 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 W. Va. Code §41-5-15.
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 West Virginia
W. Va. Code §41-2-1: an interested witness does not invalidate the will; the witness remains competent, but the devise or bequest to that witness (or to the witness's spouse) is void, except up to the amount of the witness's intestate share if the will is not established
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 West Virginia law rather than by your wishes. The safest practice is to update your will when your family changes.
W. Va. Code §41-4-1 and §41-4-2 split on whether the testator had a child living when the will was made, and the fact that defeats the claim is different in each. Under §41-4-1, where the testator had no child living when the will was made and dies leaving a child, or leaving his wife with child which is born alive, and the will does not provide for or mention any child the testator might have, that child or any descendant of that child succeeds to the portion of the estate the child would have taken had the testator died intestate. Mere mention defeats that claim. Under §41-4-2, where the testator had a child living when the will was made and a child is born afterwards, the after-born child or any descendant succeeds to the same intestate portion, provided that child is not provided for by any settlement and is neither provided for nor expressly excluded by the will, but only pretermitted. The bar is higher there: mention is not enough, the will must expressly exclude the child, and a lifetime settlement is a separate defense §41-4-1 does not carry. Under both sections the devisees and legatees contribute ratably out of what is devised and bequeathed to them, either in kind or in money as the court in the particular case deems most proper; and if such a child or descendant dies under the age of eighteen, unmarried and without issue, so much of that portion as remains unexpended in his or her support and education reverts to the person or persons to whom it was given by the will.
A spouse you married after signing. Updating the will after marriage avoids relying on whatever West Virginia law provides by default.
W. Va. Code §42-3-7(a): a surviving spouse who married the testator after the will was executed is entitled to receive, as an intestate share, no less than the value of the share the spouse would have received had the testator died intestate, computed against the portion of the estate that is neither devised to a child of the testator who was born before that marriage and who is not a child of the surviving spouse, nor devised or passing to a descendant of such a child. Both halves of that description have to be true before a child's devise leaves the base: a child born before the marriage who is also the surviving spouse's child stays in it. Three exceptions defeat the entitlement: (1) it appears from the will or other evidence that the will was made in contemplation of the marriage, (2) the will expresses the intention that it is to be effective notwithstanding any subsequent marriage, or (3) 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 or is reasonably inferred from the amount of the transfer or other evidence. The first may be shown by evidence outside the will, and the third is not made out by the transfer alone. Under §42-3-7(b), devises to the surviving spouse are applied first in satisfying that share and other devises abate, except a devise to a child of the testator born before the marriage who is not a child of the surviving spouse, or a devise or substitute gift to a descendant of such a child.
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