Personal Property Memorandum Requirements in Maryland
At a glance
| Governing law and device recognized | Limited statutory route: fixed incorporation by reference under Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 4-107, not a freely updatable personal-property-list device |
|---|---|
| Will reference required | Yes; will language must manifest intent to incorporate and describe the writing sufficiently for identification (§ 4-107) |
| Eligible property and exclusions | No memorandum-specific tangible-property definition, exclusion list, or value cap; § 4-107 applies to the terms of any existing writing |
| Signature, handwriting, and date | No independent handwriting, signature, witness, or date rule for the incorporated writing in § 4-107; the incorporating will or codicil must satisfy §§ 4-101(k) and 4-102 |
| Item and devisee identification | No personal-property item-or-recipient formula; § 4-107 instead requires the will to describe the separate writing sufficiently to identify it |
| Timing before or after the will | Writing must be in existence when the will is executed; a later-created list cannot be incorporated by the old will (§ 4-107) |
| Alteration, replacement, and conflict priority | No casual later-list update or statutory conflict-priority rule; use a new properly executed will or codicil to incorporate a replacement (§§ 4-101(k), 4-102, 4-107) |
| Probate use, effect, and failure consequence | Qualifying terms are incorporated into the will; § 4-107 states no separate memorandum filing, delivery, lapse, or savings rule |
Maryland uses fixed incorporation
Maryland's current wills scheme has no special statute for a freely updatable tangible-personal-property list. Md. Code, Estates and Trusts § 4-107 supplies the narrower route of incorporation by reference. The separate writing must be “in existence when a will or trust instrument is executed.” The will must both manifest an intent to incorporate it and describe the writing sufficiently to permit its identification.
This is a general extrinsic-writing rule, not a personal-property-memorandum statute. It states no separate tangible-property definition, asset-exclusion list, value ceiling, handwriting requirement, signature requirement, date requirement, witness requirement, or item-and-recipient formula for the incorporated writing. The identification requirement concerns whether the separate writing is the one described by the will.
The incorporating will must independently satisfy Maryland's will formalities. Section 4-101(k) includes a codicil within the definition of a will and requires execution under §§ 4-102 through 4-104. For the ordinary § 4-102(b) route, the will must be in writing, bear the required testator signature, and be attested and signed by at least two credible witnesses. Electronic and remotely witnessed wills have the additional procedures stated in § 4-102(c) and (d).
What trips people up
A later-created list is not the writing that existed when the will was executed. Section 4-107 therefore cannot make a casual post-execution replacement binding through the old will. A binding replacement requires a new properly executed will or codicil that incorporates the replacement writing.
Signing and dating the separate writing does not cure the timing problem. Those steps may help identify a document as a practical matter, but § 4-107 makes the load-bearing conditions the writing's existence at will execution, the will's manifested intent, and a description sufficient to identify the writing.
Common questions
Must the separate writing be signed, witnessed, handwritten, or dated?
Section 4-107 states none of those as an independent condition for the separate writing. The will or codicil itself must satisfy the applicable execution rules, and its language must identify the existing writing sufficiently.
Can the writing be prepared after the will?
Not through incorporation by reference under § 4-107. The writing must already exist when the will is executed.
Does Maryland impose a special asset-exclusion list for this route?
No. Section 4-107 is a general incorporation rule and states no personal- property-specific exclusions or value limits. Separate ownership, title, and nonprobate-transfer law may still govern a particular asset.
Does the statute prescribe a separate probate filing deadline?
No. Section 4-107 states the incorporation conditions but no separate filing or delivery deadline for the incorporated writing.
Statutes and sources
- Md. Code, Estates and Trusts § 4-107 — fixed incorporation of an existing writing, including the will's intent and identification requirements. Maryland General Assembly: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=get§ion=4-107 (accessed 2026-08-11).
- Md. Code, Estates and Trusts §§ 4-101(k) and 4-102(b) — codicil within the will definition and ordinary written-will signature and attestation route. Maryland General Assembly: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=get§ion=4-101 and https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=get§ion=4-102 (accessed 2026-08-11).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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