On Friday, June 4th at 8 a.m. EST, Mr. Berger discusses terms used in a will and the execution of the will.

The preamble defines who is making the Will and if they are revoking any previous Wills. A codicil modifies a previous will versus revoking a prior one. Though we don’t do those often.

Testator is the person making the will, testatrix is for a female, but the prior term can be interchangeable between genders. Tangible personal property are household goods, boats, cars-not included are bank accounts.

The executor of the will, or personal representative, is the one who carries out your instructions in the Will.

The Will has to be signed or by direction of the Testator. Maryland requires 2 witnesses. An attestation clause says that they are signing by the testator’s request, witnessed the Testator signing.

Maryland law does not require the Will to be notarized.

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Bring your questions about estate planning and administration to our weekly Facebook Live with Mr. Berger on Fridays at 11am EST. Leave your email if you’d like to receive a notification of our response.