Electronic Wills by State
Which states authorise electronic wills, which have passed an act that has not started yet, and which authorise nothing. The distinction matters: a post-dated statute is not law today, and signing under one before its operative date relies on a rule that has not begun.
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Estimate only — not legal advice. This is the published math for electronic wills by state, shown as a range. Your actual outcome depends on facts, evidence, and decisions this page cannot see.
Enacted but not yet in force (1)
These states have passed an electronic wills act with a future operative date. Until that date arrives, an electronic will is not valid there — this is the distinction most summaries miss.
- New YorkAuthorised from 2027
The New York electronic wills act (L. 2025 ch. 637) was signed on December 12, 2025 but is NOT operative until December 12, 2027 — every section carries that annotation, and EPTL 3-2.1 currently exists in two versions, one effective until that date and one after it. Note the enacting bill originally set a 545-day delay, which a February 2026 chapter amendment replaced with two years; anyone reading only the original bill would publish an effective date six months too early. Until December 2027, a will executed electronically in New York is relying on a statute that has not started.
N.Y. EPTL art. 3 pt. 6, §§3-6.1 to 3-6.9 (L. 2025 ch. 637)
Authorised and in force (4)
These states currently authorise electronic wills. The execution requirements still apply — authorisation changes the medium, not the witnessing rules.
- ColoradoAuthorised (UEWA)
The Colorado Uniform Electronic Wills Act, HB 21-1004, carried a safety clause and therefore took effect on the Governor's signature — January 21, 2021. It was subsequently RELOCATED by SB 21-266 from part 15 of article 12 to part 13 of article 11, so any citation to §15-12-1501 et seq. points at a repealed location.
Colo. Rev. Stat. §§15-11-1301 to 15-11-1311 (HB 21-1004, relocated by SB 21-266)
- FloridaAuthorised
Florida enacted its own electronic wills act (ch. 2019-71), effective January 1, 2020, rather than adopting the Uniform Electronic Wills Act. It requires audio-video technology, online notarization under §117.285, and a qualified custodian.
Fla. Stat. §§732.521-732.526
- IllinoisAuthorised
The Electronic Wills, Electronic Estate Planning Documents, and Remote Witnesses Act (755 ILCS 6/), P.A. 102-167, effective July 26, 2021, amended by P.A. 103-301 and P.A. 103-666. It took effect on becoming law, so unlike New York there is no gap between enactment and operation. It is Illinois's own act, not the Uniform Electronic Wills Act — the short title has since expanded, so a citation to the original 2021 name is now stale.
755 ILCS 6/ (P.A. 102-167)
- MarylandAuthorised
Chapter 686 of the Acts of 2021 (HB 1261), effective October 1, 2021 and applied retroactively to wills executed on or after March 10, 2020. Maryland did not adopt the Uniform Electronic Wills Act: it built a bespoke model requiring a supervising attorney and conversion into a 'certified will' — a paper original.
Md. Est. & Trusts §4-102(c)-(e); ch. 686, Acts of 2021
Not authorised (5)
No electronic wills statute found in these states. A will executed electronically here would be relying on nothing.
- CaliforniaNot authorised
Probate Code §6113 lists the valid routes to execution exhaustively and none is electronic, and Civil Code §1633.3(b)(1) excludes wills, codicils and testamentary trusts from the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. A 2019-20 electronic wills bill (AB 1667) died in committee.
- LouisianaNot authorised
Art. 1574 admits only two forms of testament, both requiring either handwriting or a physical notarial ceremony, and La. R.S. 9:2603(B) excludes the law governing creation and execution of wills from the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.
- PennsylvaniaNot authorised
No electronic wills act was found in Title 20.
- TexasNot authorised
The word 'electronic' does not appear anywhere in the wills subtitle (Estates Code chapters 251-258). Business & Commerce Code §322.003(b)(1) excludes the law governing creation and execution of wills, codicils and testamentary trusts from the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, and §251.051(3) requires witnesses to subscribe in their own handwriting.
- VirginiaNot authorised
The complete section list of Title 64.2 chapter 4 (§§64.2-400 to 64.2-458) contains no electronic wills provision; its Article 4 is the Uniform INTERNATIONAL Wills Act, which is a different thing. Virginia's UETA (§59.1-481) separately excludes the law governing creation and execution of wills.
Covering 10 verified states. This page is regenerated from the same rule packs the full requirements table uses, so the two cannot disagree. (Electronic Wills by State)
Source of record
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
A tracker of which states authorise electronic wills, which have enacted an act that has not started yet, and which authorise none. It exists as its own page because this is the column that moves — states are still adopting, and several acts are post-dated.
How it works
States are grouped by whether their authorisation is actually in force today, comparing each statute’s operative date against the current year. An act passed in one session can become operative a year or more later, and until then the previous rules govern entirely. Some states adopted the Uniform Electronic Wills Act; others wrote their own statutes with different remote-witnessing requirements.
Getting the most from it
- Find your state and note which of the three groups it sits in.
- If it is in the enacted-but-not-yet-in-force group, read the effective year — that is the date the statute begins, not the date it passed.
- Open your state page for the execution requirements that still apply. Authorisation changes the medium, not the witnessing rules.
Reading your result
Treat “enacted but not in force” as “not authorised, yet”. That is what it means in practice: a will executed electronically before the operative date is relying on a statute that has not started. Most summaries elsewhere collapse the two groups into one, which is the specific error this page exists to avoid.
What it can't tell you
This cannot tell you whether a particular electronic signing platform satisfies your state’s requirements, how remote witnessing must be conducted, or whether an electronically executed will would survive a challenge. Those are questions for an estate attorney in your state.
Frequently asked questions
A growing minority, several through the Uniform Electronic Wills Act and others under their own statutes. This page groups every verified state into authorised and in force, enacted but not yet operative, or not authorised — because the middle group is routinely reported as if it were the first.
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