Also known as: publishing the will · published the will · publication of the will · will publication · publication · attestation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A formality required in some states for valid will execution under which the testator must declare to the attesting witnesses that the instrument is the testator's will.
Priya Prasad signed her will in her New York office while two witnesses watched. She then stated aloud that the document was her will. Because she made the declaration in the presence of the witnesses, the publication formality was satisfied and the will was admitted to probate.
Priscilla Parks executed her will in State A and declared it her will before two witnesses. After her death the clerk authenticated the will under full faith and credit rules. The authenticated copy was admitted in State B probate court because publication had been properly completed in State A.
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Preston Pratt told his two witnesses that the signed document was his will. One witness later repeated the statement to a third party. Because the publication formality was completed, the will was valid and the later repetition gave rise to a separate slander action.
Peter Park declared the instrument his will before two witnesses. At trial an expert testified that the publication formality had been performed. The court accepted the testimony as establishing the reliable authority of the execution and admitted the will.
Patricia Patel signed her will in one office and told a witness in a separate office down the hall that the document was her will. Because the witness was outside her general awareness, the publication formality failed under the conscious presence test and the attestation was defective.
Perry Pratt declared the document his will before two witnesses in one sitting. A later claim alleged multiple harms from the same declaration. Under the single publication rule only one action could be maintained for all damages arising from that single act of publication.
A few states such as New York retain the requirement that the testator must declare to the witnesses that the instrument is the testator's will. The UPC omits any publication requirement.
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In states that impose the publication formality, the absence of the required declaration renders the will invalid for lack of proper execution. In states that follow the UPC, no such declaration is needed.
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Publication requires the testator to declare the document to be a will. The presence requirement concerns whether the witnesses are close enough to observe the signing or acknowledgment. The two formalities address distinct aspects of execution.
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…religion. In Bridges v. California , 314 U.S. 252 (1941), enforcement of the state’s common-law rule relating to contempts by publication was held to be state action inconsistent with the prohibitions of the Fourteenth Amendment.[^maj-21] And cf. Chicago, Burlington and Quincy R. Co. v. Chicago , 166 U.S. 226 (1897). The…