Of all the documents people ask me about, the will is the one that carries the most quiet anxiety. It is the most important legal instrument most of us will ever sign, and yet the one we put off longest. We imagine it is complicated and best left to a lawyer in a mahogany-paneled office, and so it sits on the “someday” list for a decade.
That hesitation is why so many New Yorkers walk into this with the wrong idea about what a notary actually does. I hear it two ways at my desk. One client is convinced they absolutely need a notary stamp on their will or it is worth nothing. The other has a perfectly good signed will and assumes a notary has nothing to do with it at all.
Both instincts are understandable, and neither is quite right. Here is the honest answer up front: in New York, a notary public is not one of the three things a valid will requires. A New York will does not die for lack of a notary seal. And yet, for most testators, I will still tell you that bringing a notary into the room is one of the cheapest pieces of estate planning you can do, because the notary gives you something the law does not strictly demand but your family will thank you for: the self-proving affidavit. That is the single best reason a notary belongs at the execution of your will.
This guide covers what New York law actually requires, why the notary is optional for validity but nearly essential for a smooth probate, when you truly do not need one, and how a Remote Online Notarization (RON) session handles the notarial piece from your home. By the end you will know where I fit in and how to leave our session with a will your heirs can probate without a phone hunt.
A Note on My Role
To be candid: I am a notary public, not an estate attorney. I do not draft your will, tell you how to split the family cabin, or decide who gets the grandmother’s jewelry. My job is narrower and, in its own way, more valuable. I verify that you are who you say you are, I witness the signature you make, and I affix a notarial certificate that turns that signature into a sworn, authenticated event. If you have not drafted your will and are still choosing beneficiaries, you need an attorney. If you have a finished will and want it to hold up at probate without dragging your witnesses back from three states, you have come to the right person.
Part 1: What New York Law Actually Requires for a Valid Will
Before asking “do I need a notary,” you must answer “what makes a New York will valid?” The core rules live in the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law, Section 3-2.1:
- The will must be in writing. Oral wills, video recordings, and unsigned notes do not count for ordinary people (there are narrow military and maritime exceptions, covered below).
- You must be at least 18 and of sound mind (EPTL 3-1.1). You must understand it is your will, roughly what you own, and who your natural heirs are.
- You must sign at the end of the document. Anything of consequence added after your signature is generally not given effect, and can sink the whole will.
- You must sign in the presence of two witnesses, or acknowledge a prior signature to each of them. Each witness must actually see you sign, or see your already-made signature and hear you acknowledge it.
- You must declare the document to be your will to the witnesses (“publication”). This is a common defect in home-executed wills. No magic words are required, but “sign here” with no statement that it is your will is a will waiting to be contested.
- The two witnesses must sign at your request, within a 30-day window. Both signatures must fall inside 30 days of each other. Witnesses should also write their home addresses, though a missing address does not by itself invalidate the will.
Notice what is missing from that list. There is no “a notary public shall notarize this will.” New York is one of the states where notarization is not a formal execution requirement. A will with your signature and two properly participating witnesses is valid even if no notary ever touches it.
That is the point that resets expectations. The notary is not a third witness, and is not a substitute for the second attesting witness. If I notarize your will and you have only one human witness, you still have a problem, because New York demands two attesting witnesses regardless of how many seals are on the page.
One wrinkle costs families dearly: the “interested witness” rule in EPTL 3-3.2. If one of your two witnesses also inherits under the will, that gift can be voided unless you have at least two other disinterested witnesses. The clean path is simple: choose your two witnesses from people who take nothing under the will. Never let the person who inherits the farm also be the person who watches you sign.
Part 2: So What Does the Notary Actually Do for Your Will?
If the notary is not required, why do I keep recommending one? Because of the self-proving affidavit, governed by Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act Section 1406.
Here is the problem it solves. When you die, your will must be admitted to probate in the Surrogate’s Court of your home county. To prove the will was properly executed, the court generally wants to hear from your witnesses. If your will is not self-proved, the court wants those two witnesses to appear (or be examined) so it can confirm the signing was proper. By the time you pass, one or both may be dead, have moved, have fallen ill, or simply not remember the ceremony. A missing witness can stall an uncontested probate for months, add expense, and hand a hostile heir an excuse to object.
The self-proving affidavit removes that risk. It is a short sworn statement, signed by the witnesses (and usually acknowledged by you) before a notary at the same sitting as the will. The witnesses swear that you signed in their presence as your will, that they signed at your request, and that all of it happened at the same sitting. Under SCPA 1406, the court may accept that sworn affidavit in place of live witness testimony. The notary captures the testimony once, at the front of the line, when everyone is present and cooperative.
That is where I earn my fee. I am the neutral, disinterested party who says, under the authority of New York, “these two people swore, before me, that this ceremony was proper, on this date.” That certificate is what lets your executor walk into the Surrogate’s Court and get letters testamentary without a phone call to a witness who is now in Tucson.
One distinction that changes what I actually do: a self-proving affidavit is a sworn statement, so the act on the witnesses is an oath (a jurat). Your signature on the will itself is typically acknowledged. Depending on the form your attorney uses, you may need both. I will read the document with you and perform whichever act the certificate calls for. When you book me, tell me it is a will with a self-proving affidavit, and I will set up the correct certificate.
When the Notary Is (and Is Not) Required
You do NOT strictly need a notary if:
- You are executing a valid will with two disinterested witnesses in the same room and are not worried about a witness later becoming unreachable.
- Your attorney has arranged a proper in-person execution and a bank or office notary will take the affidavit the same day.
You DO want a notary (and I recommend one almost every time) if:
- You want a self-proving affidavit so your heirs do not have to produce your witnesses at probate. This is the single strongest reason.
- Your witnesses are scattered, or will someday be unavailable. The older you are, the more it is worth.
- You are doing a broader estate plan (trust, power of attorney, health care proxy) and want every instrument notarized clean.
- A bank, title company, or fiduciary wants a notarized acknowledgment to be safe.
- You are executing out of state or remotely and want a New York notary to make the ceremony airtight.
One trap: if a will has a “notary here” box but no two attesting witnesses, the box is decorative. A notary seal does not cure a will missing its two witnesses.
Part 3: Can You Do It Remotely? The RON Angle
New York’s RON rules (Executive Law 135-c, with Department of State regulations effective January 2023) make this easier, and I am careful to tell you the truth rather than sell a process that does not fit.
The rule that surprises people: the NOTARY must be physically in New York State at the time of the act, while the signer may be anywhere. If I am in my New York office, you and your witnesses can complete the notarial act from your home, a relative’s house in another state, or even abroad, and the act is still a valid New York electronic notarial act. What the law pins to New York is my location, not yours.
The self-proving affidavit is a notarial act, and notarial acts are exactly what RON was built to handle. So the part where I take the witnesses’ sworn affidavit, verify identity, and affix my electronic seal and recording can happen in a secure video session from wherever you and your witnesses are. That is genuinely convenient when your two witnesses live on opposite sides of the state and never meet.
The two-witness attestation of the will itself is the more traditional piece. New York expects you to sign in the presence of each witness (or acknowledge your signature to each of them), and the safest, most contest-proof execution is one where you, both witnesses, and I are coordinated in the same sitting. In practice that means gathering the two witnesses, booking a RON session, and running the whole ceremony in one video call, with me verifying each person’s identity through credential analysis and knowledge-based verification, and keeping the full audio-visual recording for at least ten years. It is the in-person ceremony minus the drive.
If everyone cannot be together, your attorney can sometimes structure things so I handle the notarial self-proving affidavit remotely while the witness signatures are arranged separately. Do not DIY that for a will. Bring me in early and I will tell you plainly whether RON fits, or whether you are better off signing in person and reserving me for the affidavit.
The RON Fee
A Remote Online Notarial act is capped at $25 per act (Executive Law 135-c). A traditional in-person acknowledgment is capped at $2 (Executive Law 136). For a remote self-proving affidavit, expect the $25 fee, which covers the secure video, credential analysis, recording, and the convenience of no one driving anywhere.
Part 4: How Our Session Goes, Step by Step
Step 1. Confirm the document is ready. Your will should be fully drafted, final, and ready to sign, with the attestation clause in place and room for the self-proving affidavit. Do not be adding bequests mid-call; if your attorney has not finalized it, wait.
Step 2. Gather the two witnesses. Bring two disinterested witnesses, meaning they take nothing under the will and are not your spouse. Neighbors, colleagues, and friends who inherit nothing are ideal. Each needs valid, unexpired government-issued photo ID, because for RON I run credential analysis on each of them.
Step 3. Credible identification. I will ask you and each witness to show me your ID on camera. I scan the data and, if needed, ask knowledge-based verification questions. This is the RON replacement for the traditional “show me your license and I look at your face” step.
Step 4. You sign; the witnesses sign; I certify. You sign at the end in the presence of both witnesses, you declare it is your will, the witnesses sign at your request and add their addresses, then the witnesses swear to the self-proving affidavit before me and I affix my electronic certificate and seal, stating the date, my commission, and that the witnesses swore before me.
Step 5. Recording and delivery. The entire audio-visual session is captured and kept in a secure cloud for at least ten years, as the regulations require. You receive the notarized will and self-proving affidavit as a PDF by email, ready to print, store, and, if you wish, file with the Surrogate’s Court for safekeeping under SCPA 2507.
A complete execution with a self-proving affidavit typically takes 30 to 45 minutes, longer only if identity verification needs a second look.
Part 5: The Exceptions That Confuse People
Holographic and nuncupative wills (EPTL 3-2.2). In very limited cases New York recognizes an unwitnessed handwritten will or an oral will, but that permission runs almost entirely to members of the armed forces during armed conflict, persons serving with or accompanying those forces, and mariners at sea. For an ordinary civilian, there is no valid handwritten will without two witnesses. A note on the back of a card that says “I leave everything to my daughter,” signed but never witnessed, is not a New York will. And those special wills are temporary, lapsing one year after a service member’s discharge or three years after a mariner’s will is made. If you are not a soldier or a sailor, get the proper two-witness, notarized, self-proved will.
The lost will. If your original will was last seen in your possession and cannot be found when you die, the law presumes you destroyed it to revoke it. Proving a lost will under SCPA 1407 takes extra work. A properly notarized, self-proved will kept somewhere known (a fireproof box, your attorney’s files, or filed with the Surrogate’s Court) avoids most of that trouble, which is one more quiet argument for keeping the original in an orderly place.
Part 6: Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a notary for my New York will to be valid? No. EPTL 3-2.1 requires your signature and two witnesses, not a notary. A properly signed, witnessed will is valid without a seal.
Then why recommend one? For the self-proving affidavit (SCPA 1406). The notary captures the witnesses’ sworn testimony up front, so your executor does not have to track them down at probate. It is the best insurance against a stalled or contested probate.
Can a notary replace one of my two witnesses? No. A notary is not a substitute for an attesting witness. You still need two human witnesses who watched you sign, on top of any notary work.
Do my witnesses have to be in the same room as me? For a safe, contest-proof execution, yes, at least in the same sitting. New York expects you to sign in the presence of each witness. RON lets that sitting happen by secure video rather than in one physical room, with me verifying everyone’s identity.
Do the witnesses have to be in New York? The notary must be in New York. The witnesses and you can be elsewhere, because RON pins the state to the notary’s location. In practice, for a will, most people keep everyone coordinated and I handle the notarial act remotely.
Do the witnesses need ID for a remote session? Yes. I run credential analysis on each witness’s valid, unexpired government photo ID. An expired license is the most common reason a remote session stalls, so check first.
What if a beneficiary is one of my witnesses? You can, but under EPTL 3-3.2 the gift to that witness can be voided unless you have two other disinterested witnesses. Safest is to never let an inheritor be a witness.
What is the fee? A remote online act is capped at $25 (Exec. Law 135-c). An in-person acknowledgment is capped at $2 (Exec. Law 136).
Conclusion
So do you really need a notary for a New York will? The honest answer: you do not need one for validity, but you almost certainly want one for an easy probate. The statute asks for two witnesses, and a notary stands in the corner as a powerful, low-cost witness to those witnesses, turning a ceremony that could haunt your family into a one-time, self-proved event an executor can close out in a single afternoon.
If you are drafting a will, or have one and are wondering whether it will hold up, my advice is the same it is for every document that crosses my desk. Get the two-witness execution right, choose disinterested witnesses, add the self-proving affidavit, keep the original where you will remember it, and let a New York notary do the notarial piece cleanly. If your witnesses are far apart or out of state, let Remote Online Notarization bring the ceremony to you, with me in New York making the whole thing airtight from a secure video call.
If you are not sure where a notary fits into your plan, bring me in before the signing, not after. The cheapest probate is the one you make painless while you are still here. That is the work I am here to get right for you.
Disclaimer: This post is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice; I am a notary public, not an estate attorney. New York will-execution and probate rules can change, and your circumstances may call for a New York estates attorney. Confirm the execution and self-proving requirements for your specific will with your attorney or the Surrogate’s Court before relying on any particular notarization.