Personal Property Memorandum Requirements in Kansas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

The will and eligible property

K.S.A. § 59-623 permits a will to refer to a written statement or list for tangible personal property that the will does not otherwise specifically dispose of. The will may refer to a writing that will exist at the testator's death, so the list need not exist when the will is executed.

The device excludes money, evidences of debt, documents of title, securities, and property used in trade or business. The section states no per-item or aggregate value ceiling.

Handwriting or signature and item identification

Kansas provides two execution alternatives: the writing must either be in the testator's handwriting or be signed by the testator. It also must describe the items with reasonable certainty.

The section does not add a date, witness, notarization, or signature-placement condition. Unlike many similar statutes, its reasonable-certainty sentence expressly names the items but does not separately say that devisees or recipients must be described with reasonable certainty. That omission should not be replaced with invented statutory requirements for a recipient's full legal name, relationship, address, or alternate.

Timing and later alteration

The writing may be prepared before or after execution of the will, and the testator may alter it after preparation. Section 59-623 does not prescribe a special formality for each alteration or say which of two conflicting writings controls.

The writing offered under the section still must satisfy the handwriting-or- signature choice and reasonably certain item-description condition. The section does not require every change to be separately initialed, signed, or dated.

Evidentiary effect

A writing that satisfies § 59-623 is admissible as evidence of the intended disposition. The section states no separate probate filing or delivery procedure and no lapse or savings rule.

What trips people up

A physical item can still be excluded because it is money, a document of title, a security, evidence of debt, or trade-or-business property. The memorandum also cannot redirect an item that the will already specifically disposes of.

The ability to prepare or alter the writing after the will does not create a statutory newest-writing-wins rule. Kansas states no priority rule for conflicting lists and does not say that a list overrides a specific gift in the will.

Common questions

Must the list be dated?

Section 59-623 states no dating condition. The writing must be in the testator's handwriting or signed by the testator and must describe the items with reasonable certainty.

Can the list be created after the will is signed?

Yes. The writing may be prepared before or after execution of the will, and the will may refer to one that will exist at the testator's death.

Can the list be changed later?

Yes. The testator may alter it after preparation. The statute states no special initialing, re-signing, re-dating, replacement, or conflict-priority rule.

Must witnesses or a notary sign the list?

No witness or notary condition appears in § 59-623. Its execution alternatives are the testator's handwriting or the testator's signature.

Statutes and sources

• K.S.A. § 59-623 — will reference, property scope and exclusions, handwriting or signature, item identification, timing, alteration, and admissibility. Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes: https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch59/059_006_0023.html (accessed 2026-08-11).