We found a handwritten will in the bedside table. Is it valid?
Your co-pilot in inheritance law
Mag. Nevena Shotekova-Zöchling
Attorney in Vienna · 16 years of legal practice · Inheritance law
Without a date, every crossing-out has two possible meanings.
Line by line
After the death, the will is found in the drawer. Handwritten, signed. At first glance everything is in order.
At second glance it is not. The text contains several handwritten crossings-out and changes, and not a single one is dated. What was written first? What was crossed out later? And which version was his last will in the end?
Every line was clearly visible. Just not when it was drawn.
With a will, the order of events often decides what applies. A later change can cancel an earlier one. Without a date, however, it is hardly possible to say which change came later. Nobody could make sense of it.
The result was, in part, painstaking detailed work: checking every single change, placing it in time and interpreting it.
The lesson: if you want to change your will, either rewrite it cleanly and destroy the old one, or add a date and your signature to every change.
What the law says
- Handwritten will: it must be written entirely in the testator’s own hand and signed (section 578 of the Austrian Civil Code, ABGB). A single part typed on a computer can make it invalid.
- A date is not mandatory, but strongly recommended. Without a date it is often impossible to tell which of several dispositions was the last one.
- In principle, the later one applies. A later testamentary disposition revokes an earlier one to the extent that they contradict each other.
- Crossing out can be a revocation. Whoever crosses out their will in whole or in part can thereby revoke it in whole or in part (section 721 ABGB). What matters is that the deceased crossed it out personally and meant it.
- Additions below the signature need a signature of their own. Otherwise they are generally ineffective.
You have found a will: what now?
- Do not change anything. Do not write on it, do not take it apart, do not punch holes in it.
- Make a copy and have it checked for form and content.
- Hand the original over promptly to the notary handling the estate (court commissioner). Anyone who makes a will disappear risks being declared unworthy to inherit.
Want to change your will? How to avoid leaving a puzzle
- Rewrite it cleanly: the entire will anew, with date and signature, and destroy the old one.
- Or date and sign every change. No crossing-out and no addition without a date and signature.
- Have it deposited and registered with a lawyer or notary. Then it is not lying in some drawer.
If the handwriting itself raises questions: Will made with dementia – is it valid? →
Found a will with crossings-out?
We check what applies. Or we draft your will so that no questions arise in the first place. Initial assessment within 48 hours on working days; the first consultation is free of charge.
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