Who Can Make a Will?

In order to make a will, you must be of sufficient age, and of you must have “testamentary capacity.” This is actually a pretty low bar. Someone can lack capacity to manage other things in their lives, but still be considered competent to execute a will. ¹

To be qualified to create a will, at the time of making the will you must:

• Be at least 18 years old (or an emancipated minor) and of “sound mind”. ²

• Have “sufficient strength and clearness of mind and memory to know, in general, without prompting”:³
  • The nature and extent of your property
  • The nature and consequences of creating a will
  • The names and identity of “the objects of your bounty” (natural heirs)
  • Your relationship to your natural heirs

That’s it. If you meet those qualifications you can execute a will.

1. See, e.g. In re Estate of Conway, 152 Idaho 933, 277 P.3d 380 (2012) ↩︎
2. Idaho Code 15-2-501 ↩︎
3. Nelsen v. Nelsen, 170 Idaho 102, 117, 508 P.3d 301, 316 (2022). This is what it means to be “of sound mind.” ↩︎