If you have written your own will and you are wondering whether you can sign it into a legally valid document without hiring an attorney, the short answer is yes. Wyoming law does not require a lawyer to be present when you sign your will. What it does require is that you follow a specific set of rules, and if you miss even one of them, the document you worked so hard on may not hold up when your family needs it most.
For a lot of folks around Cheyenne, Pine Bluffs, or out toward Wheatland, this comes up because they have already drafted a will themselves, perhaps using an online template, and they simply want to know how to make it official. Here is what Wyoming actually requires.
The Basic Rule: Two Witnesses, No Notary Required
Under Wyoming law, a will is valid if it is in writing, signed by you, and witnessed by two competent people. That is the core requirement, and it applies whether you typed the will on a computer or wrote it out by hand with witnesses present. A few details matter here:
Your Witnesses Must Be Old Enough and Mentally Capable of Understanding What They’re Watching
Wyoming law requires witnesses to be “competent,” which means two things in practice: they need to be old enough to understand what a will is and what act they’re observing, and they need to be of sound enough mind to grasp that you are signing a legal document on purpose, of your own free will. A neighbor stopping by to borrow a ladder isn’t a witness just because they happened to see you sign something at the kitchen table — they need to understand what they’re watching. In practice, most people choose an adult friend, coworker, or neighbor who isn’t going through a health crisis that would call their competency into question. One quirk worth knowing: if a witness is competent at the moment they watch you sign, but becomes incompetent later, that doesn’t undo their status as a valid witness. What matters is their competency at the time of signing, not years later when the will is probated.
Your Witnesses Should Not Stand to Inherit Anything Under the Will
This is one of the more commonly misunderstood rules, and it trips up a lot of DIY wills. It’s tempting to ask a witness who happens to be named in the will — an adult child, a close friend, a sibling — simply because they’re the person standing in the room. Wyoming law specifically discourages this. If a witness stands to inherit under the will, that gift is voided unless two other disinterested, competent witnesses also signed the will. In other words, having an interested witness doesn’t automatically ruin your will, but it does raise the bar: you’d need three total witnesses, two of whom have no stake in the outcome, for the interested witness to keep their gift. There’s also a narrower exception for a witness who would have inherited that same property anyway under Wyoming’s intestacy laws even if you’d never written a will at all — in that specific case, they may still receive up to that amount. Given how easily this can go wrong, and how much it can complicate things during probate, the safest approach is simple: choose two witnesses who aren’t named anywhere in your will and have nothing to gain from its outcome.
Notarization Is Not Legally Required, but Skipping It Isn’t Always Wise
This surprises a lot of people, since nearly every other significant document in life — from a mortgage to a power of attorney — seems to require a notary stamp somewhere. A Wyoming will is the exception: as long as it’s in writing, signed by you, and witnessed by two competent witnesses (or made valid as a holographic will), it’s legally valid with no notary involved at all. That said, “not required” doesn’t mean “not worth doing.” Notarizing your will at the same time you sign it lets you create a self-proving affidavit, which can save your family real time and hassle later. More on that below.
Remote Witnessing Is Allowed, With Conditions
Wyoming updated its law to allow witnesses to appear by audio-video technology rather than in the same room. This matters for families with a deployed service member connected to F.E. Warren Air Force Base, or a rancher whose nearest neighbor is a twenty-minute drive away.
To witness remotely, the technology must let the witness see and hear you in real time, judge whether you appear competent, watch you sign, and confirm that you are doing so freely and voluntarily. The witness then needs a secure way to sign electronically. This is a meaningful accommodation for rural Wyoming, but it only works if the technology and the process meet these specific conditions.
Should You Get It Notarized Anyway? Probably Yes
Even though notarization is not legally required, there is a strong practical reason to do it: a self-proving affidavit. This is a short sworn statement, signed by you and your witnesses in front of a notary, confirming that the will was properly signed and witnessed.
Without a self-proving affidavit, if your will ever needs to go through the probate process, the court may need to track down your original witnesses years later to confirm they actually watched you sign. If a witness has moved away, or passed away, or simply cannot be located, this becomes an unnecessary complication for your family during an already difficult time. A self-proving affidavit, done at the same time you sign your will, eliminates that problem entirely. It takes an extra ten minutes with a notary and can save your loved ones real headaches later.
What About Handwritten Wills? Wyoming’s Holographic Will Rule
Wyoming is one of the states that recognizes a holographic will, meaning a will that is entirely in your own handwriting and signed by you, with no witnesses required at all. If the entire document is handwritten and you sign it, Wyoming law treats it as valid on its own terms.
This sounds simple, but it comes with real risk. A holographic will must be entirely in your handwriting. Not partially typed and partially handwritten. Not filled in on a printed template with blanks. If any meaningful portion is typed, or if you used a form and simply wrote in the details, you may fall outside this exception entirely, and the will could fail both as a witnessed will and as a holographic one.
Handwritten wills also face more scrutiny during probate, since there are no witnesses available to confirm your intent or your state of mind at the time you wrote it. Courts treat them seriously, but disputes over handwriting and mental capacity come up far more often with holographic wills than with properly witnessed ones.
Common Mistakes That Undo a DIY Will Signing
After years of working with Southeast Wyoming families, a few patterns show up again and again when a homemade will runs into trouble at probate:
Signing without both witnesses present at the same time.
Wyoming’s requirement contemplates witnesses observing the signing, whether in person or through real-time video. Getting one witness’s signature on Tuesday and another’s on Thursday, after the fact, does not satisfy the statute.
Using a beneficiary as a witness.
It is tempting to ask your adult child or a close friend who happens to be named in the will, simply because they are available. Wyoming law specifically addresses this scenario, and it can limit what that witness ultimately receives.
Assuming a typed will with blanks filled in by hand counts as holographic will.
It does not. If you want the protection of the holographic will exception, the entire document needs to be in your own handwriting.
Skipping the self-proving affidavit.
This is not a legal requirement, but skipping it means your family may need to locate your witnesses later, sometimes years down the road, to confirm the will was properly executed.
Forgetting to update the will after a major life change.
Divorce, remarriage, the birth of a grandchild, or the sale of ranch land can all affect how a will should be structured. An executed will is not meant to be a one-time task; it should reflect your life as it changes.
When a Self-Drafted Will Makes Sense, and When It Doesn’t
For a straightforward estate with limited assets and clear intentions, a properly executed DIY will can work under Wyoming law exactly as described above. Where things get more complicated is when your estate includes agricultural land passed down through generations, mineral rights, a blended family, or property spread across county lines. These situations often benefit from more comprehensive estate planning than a basic will alone provides, sometimes through a will paired with other planning tools such as a living trust that can help your family avoid probate altogether.
If you are unsure whether your situation is straightforward or more involved, it is worth having your draft reviewed before you sign it, even if you plan to handle the actual signing yourself.
