Will requirements in Wyoming

Wyoming requires you to be at least 18 and of sound mind. Capacity is judged at the moment of signing and asks whether you understood the nature of the act, roughly what you owned, and who would ordinarily expect to inherit from you.

A Wyoming will is valid without a notary. Notarization produces the self-proving affidavit — a sworn statement signed by you and both witnesses and attached to the will, letting it be admitted to probate without your witnesses being located and asked to testify.

In a state with a small population spread over long distances, the affidavit is more than a convenience. Anything that removes the need to find a specific person years later is worth the few extra minutes at signing.

Wyoming accepts holographic wills, and it asks for more than the Uniform Probate Code states do. The will must be wholly in your own handwriting and signed — not merely the material portions, as in Colorado, Montana or Utah, but the entire document.

That distinction catches people who have read general guidance written for UPC states. A part-printed, part-handwritten document that would qualify in Montana does not meet Wyoming's test. A holographic will also has to be proved as yours after death, with none of the protection a self-proving affidavit provides.

Wyoming's small-estate affidavit threshold was raised effective July 1, 2025, doubling the previous limit and placing Wyoming at or near the top of the national range. A great many estates that would require full administration elsewhere can be collected by affidavit here.

Because the change is recent, two different limits are in play depending on the date of death. The Wyoming Judiciary's affidavit form distinguishes deaths before July 1, 2025 from those on or after, and the earlier, lower figure still governs earlier deaths.

We are not printing either figure. A number this recently changed is exactly the kind that goes stale in secondary sources, and the consequence of using the wrong one is filing under a procedure the estate does not qualify for. Take the current figures from the Judiciary's form or the district court.

Wyoming is a common law property state. Ownership follows title rather than being automatically shared between spouses because property was acquired during the marriage.

A surviving spouse has an elective share, so a spouse generally cannot be disinherited by will alone. Where ranch land, water rights, or mineral interests form part of an estate, how those are titled matters as much as what the will says — worth confirming before drafting.

Wyoming has adopted the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act, giving you a statutory advance directive that combines an appointment of a health-care agent with your treatment instructions in a single document.

A separate statutory power of attorney covers financial matters. Both operate while you are alive, which is the gap a will never fills.