Does United States law recognize "oral testaments" and if so, under what conditions?

davejacobs

Nuncupative wills are usually considered invalid. Which I presume means that sometimes they are valid, if there is no previous will, and it is properly witnessed by two independent people. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nuncupativewill.asp May 10 08, 1:06 AM

Jay_in_LA

Assuming that by “oral testament” this question relates to oral or nuncupative wills (a method of succeeding and distributing the property of a deceased based on the oral testimony or declaration of witnesses, as opposed to witnessed wills – which are typed documents signed by the deceased and witnessed by others – or holographic wills – which are hand written by the deceased), then the answer is as follows: It depends, as under the American federal legal system, the law of wills, trusts and probate is left to each of the individual states. The majority rule is that oral or nuncupative wills are not valid. These states limit enforcement to wills that have been properly signed and witnessed or were written out in the deceased own hand. California follows this majority rule: http://www.mbscott.com/wills.htm and http://law.findlaw.com/state-laws/wills/california/ The rationale for this majority rule is that state sanction should only be given to instruments in which the true desires and intentions of the deceased are reasonably certain; oral wills being subject to potential abuse. However, a minority of states allow oral or nuncupative wills in limited situations. See http://www.quizlaw.com/trusts_and_estates/what_is_a_nuncupative_will.php Interestingly, it appears that such wills were first used to recognize gifts made by mortally wounded soilders and sailors to their comardes-in-arms. http://law.findlaw.com/state-laws/wills/intro-wills/ See, generally, John Alexander, Commentary on the Law of Wills, Bender Moss, 1917, pg. 216-217, at http://books.google.com/books?id=DTs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA216&dq=%22oral+testament%22+in+US+law May 10 08, 1:15 AM