Personal Property Memorandum Requirements in Indiana

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and eligible property

IC 29-1-6-1(m), not IC 29-1-5-3.2, recognizes Indiana's separate writing or list. It reaches tangible personal property not otherwise specifically disposed of by the will and expressly excludes property used in a trade or business. It does not enumerate money, debt evidence, title documents, or securities as additional exclusions, but each asset still must be tangible personal property.

Will reference and timing

The will must refer to the writing. The writing may be prepared before or after will execution and may have no significance apart from its effect on the will's dispositions. Subsection (m) does not provide a parallel trust route.

Signature required

The testator must sign the writing. Handwriting alone is not an alternative. The subsection states no date, signature-placement, witness, or notarization condition for the list.

Item and beneficiary identification

The writing must describe both the items and the beneficiaries with reasonable certainty. The statute does not prescribe serial numbers, addresses, relationships, estimated values, or alternate recipients as universal fields.

Alterations and competing writings

The testator may alter the writing after it is prepared. If more than one otherwise-effective writing exists, the most recent writing revokes inconsistent provisions of earlier writings. The subsection does not state a date requirement or a separate signature-and-date ceremony for an alteration, although the operative writing must satisfy the signature requirement.

What trips people up

The commonly cited § 29-1-5-3.2 is unrelated. That current section concerns video, photographs, or audio recorded during will execution. Indiana's actual personal-property-list rule is subsection (m) of § 29-1-6-1.

The statute's trust and asset boundaries also matter. Subsection (m) speaks only of a will and expressly excludes trade or business property; it does not create a revocable-trust list route or reproduce Tennessee-style exclusions.

Common questions

Must the writing be dated?

No date requirement appears in IC 29-1-6-1(m).

Must it be witnessed or notarized?

No. The subsection requires the testator's signature but states no witness or notary condition for the list.

Can it be prepared after the will?

Yes. The statute expressly permits preparation before or after will execution.

Which of two conflicting lists controls?

The most recent otherwise-effective writing revokes the inconsistent provisions of each earlier writing.

Statutes and sources

• IC 29-1-6-1(m) — covered and excluded property, will reference, mandatory signature, reasonable certainty, timing, alterations, independent significance, admissibility, and conflict priority. Indiana General Assembly 2026 code: https://iga.in.gov/ic/2026/Title_29/Article_1/Chapter_6.pdf (accessed 2026-08-11; section history through P.L.149-2012).
• IC 29-1-5-3.2 — current text of the unrelated video-evidence provision miscited by the live form. Indiana General Assembly 2026 code: https://iga.in.gov/ic/2026/Title_29/Article_1/Chapter_5.pdf (accessed 2026-08-11).