Can You Sign a Will Electronically? Why ESIGN Says No — and Where State Law Says Maybe

This is the question our whole legality cluster exists to answer honestly, because the answer is the opposite of every other page: usually, no. The same statutes that make an NDA, a lease or an employment contract fully signable online were written to step aside for exactly one family of documents — and wills lead that list. This page covers why the law draws the line there, where a minority of US states have since opened an electronic path, and what that path actually requires. It is educational only: nothing here is advice about your estate, and the one recommendation it will make repeatedly is an estate attorney licensed in your state.

Why ESIGN says no

The ESIGN Act’s general rule — a signature can’t be denied legal effect solely because it’s electronic — comes with a short list of express exclusions, and the first item on it is the point of this page. Under 15 U.S.C. § 7003(a)(1), the Act does not apply to a contract or record to the extent it is governed by a statute or rule of law governing “the creation and execution of wills, codicils, or testamentary trusts.” UETA, the state-level twin adopted almost everywhere, carves out the same territory. We walk the full exclusion list in are electronic signatures legally binding?

The carve-out is deliberate, and the reasons are older than the internet. A will is not a bargain between two parties who can later testify about it — it takes effect precisely when its author can no longer say what they meant. Probate law’s formalities — a written instrument, a wet-ink signature, disinterested witnesses physically present — exist as fraud and undue-influence protections for someone who won’t be in the room. Congress and the uniform-law drafters chose not to sweep that machinery away with a general-purpose e-commerce statute, and left wills where they have always lived: with state probate law.

So the precise answer to “can you sign a will electronically?” is: not under ESIGN or UETA — only where your state’s probate law has separately said yes.

Where state law says maybe: the Uniform Electronic Wills Act

In 2019 the Uniform Law Commission approved the Uniform Electronic Wills Act (UEWA) — a model statute states can enact to make electronically executed wills valid under their probate law. Where enacted, it allows testators “to execute wills electronically, with the attesting witnesses able to appear” by video conference rather than in person, as the National Legal Research Group’s enactment summary puts it.

As of our check date, that summary lists eight enacting jurisdictions: Colorado, the District of Columbia, Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington — with legal reports also counting Minnesota among the adopters, and New York enacting UEWA-based legislation in 2026 that phases in over time, per the New York City Bar Association’s report. The authoritative, current map is the Uniform Law Commission’s own act page and its enactment tracking — this list moves, so verify there before relying on any snapshot, including this one.

A second family of states wrote their own electronic-wills statutes before or apart from the uniform act — Nevada, Arizona, Indiana and Florida are the commonly cited examples — each with its own rules on witnessing, notarization and, in some cases, a “qualified custodian” who must maintain the electronic record. Same destination, different formalities, and the differences are exactly where estates get litigated.

What an electronic will actually requires, where it’s legal

Here is the misunderstanding this page most wants to prevent: an “electronic will” in an enacting state is not a PDF signed with a general e-signature app. It is a probate instrument executed in compliance with a specific statute, and the formalities survive the medium:

• Witnesses remain required — the e-will statutes change how witnesses may appear (often permitting remote presence by video), not whether they’re needed.
• Some regimes require more, not less — notarization variants, custodian requirements, or specific record-integrity conditions, depending on the state.
• The probate court is still the audience. A will’s signature is never really “accepted” until its author has died and a court examines the execution. Getting the formalities slightly wrong isn’t a paperwork inconvenience — it can invalidate the instrument when nobody can fix it.

Which is why every path through this subject ends at the same door: if an electronic will is something you want, an estate attorney in your state — one who knows whether your legislature has enacted the UEWA, a bespoke statute, or nothing — is not the cautious option. It’s the only one.

Why most of what ranks for this question is Canadian

Search this query and much of what you’ll find is written about British Columbia — Canadian probate reform is its own story, under its own statutes, and none of it tells you anything about US law. This page is about the United States; for how electronic signing works in Canada generally (for ordinary contracts, which are governed provincially), see are electronic signatures legal in Canada? — and note that wills sit outside that page’s subject for the same reason they sit outside ESIGN’s.

Frequently asked questions

Does the ESIGN Act cover wills?

No — expressly. § 7003(a)(1) excludes anything governed by the law of “the creation and execution of wills, codicils, or testamentary trusts” from the Act’s scope, and UETA carves out the same. Electronic wills are valid only where a state’s own probate law says so.

Are electronic wills legal anywhere in the US?

Yes — in the minority of jurisdictions that have enacted the Uniform Electronic Wills Act or their own e-will statute, subject to each statute’s formalities: witnesses (often permitted to appear remotely), and in some states notarization or a qualified custodian. Everywhere else, the traditional requirements stand.

Can I sign a will with Signatura or another e-signature platform?

Don’t. Even in a UEWA state, a valid electronic will is executed under the probate statute’s specific procedure — not through a general-purpose signing tool, ours included. We’ll happily be the place your NDAs, leases and offer letters get signed; your will belongs with an estate attorney.

Do codicils and living trusts follow the same rule?

Codicils and testamentary trusts are named in the same § 7003(a)(1) exclusion as wills. Other estate-planning documents — living trusts operating during your lifetime, powers of attorney, healthcare directives — are governed by their own state rules, which vary widely and sometimes do permit electronic signing. Same advice, same reason: state-specific, ask locally.

Does a will need a witness?

Yes, essentially everywhere — and wills are the clearest example of a document whose witnessing requirement e-signature law does not remove. The wider subject of witnessing and notarization, including remote online notarization, is covered in does an electronic signature need a witness or notary?

Where Signatura stands

Nowhere near your will — on purpose. The e-signature statutes drew a line around testamentary documents, and we think a signing platform earns trust by respecting that line out loud rather than blurring it: Signatura is built for the agreements the law fully embraces electronically — NDAs, employment paperwork, leases and the rest of the ordinary run of business. For those, the law’s requirements and our product’s evidence — audit trail, certificate of completion, tamper-evident seal — line up exactly. For your will: paper, witnesses, and a professional, unless and until your state’s probate law and your attorney tell you otherwise.

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Sources: 15 U.S.C. § 7003 — the ESIGN Act’s express exclusion of wills, codicils and testamentary trusts at (a)(1). Electronic Wills Act — Uniform Law Commission — the model act and the authoritative enactment tracking. Enactments of the Uniform Electronic Wills Act — National Legal Research Group — the enacting-jurisdiction list and remote-witnessing summary quoted above. Report on the Proposed Electronic Wills Act in NY — New York City Bar Association — New York’s UEWA-based 2026 legislation. Enactment lists move; check the Commission’s tracker, and nothing on this page is legal advice about any specific estate.