Personal Property Memorandum Requirements in Texas

At a glance

Texas uses a will or codicil instead

Texas Estates Code subtitle F is the complete current wills scheme. Its eight chapters cover will requirements, custody, change and revocation, special will provisions, construction, probate, muniment-of-title probate, and probate notices. None creates the special will-referenced personal property writing covered by this survey.

A Texan who wants a binding tangible-personal-property disposition therefore uses the ordinary testamentary routes. Section 251.051 states that, unless another law applies, a will must be written, signed, and attested by at least two credible witnesses age 14 or older who sign in the testator's presence. Section 251.052 removes the subscribing-witness requirement for a will “written wholly in the testator's handwriting.”

For a later change, § 253.001 expressly recognizes execution of a new will or a codicil. Section 253.002 also requires a later will, codicil, or written declaration used to revoke a written devise to be executed with like formalities. A separate typed list does not acquire the survey's special statutory effect merely because it is stored with or mentioned by a will.

What trips people up

A wholly handwritten instrument and a personal property memorandum are not the same legal device. Section 251.052 says a will written wholly in the testator's handwriting needs no subscribing witnesses; it does not create an exception for a printed form with handwritten entries or for a typed list that the testator signs. Whether a particular handwritten document operates as a will or codicil is a separate testamentary question.

Common questions

Can a Texas will mention a personal property list?

The current wills subtitle contains no special statute that gives the kind of separate, later-prepared list covered here independent effect. Put binding dispositions in a properly executed will or codicil rather than relying on the reference alone.

Can a handwritten list work without witnesses?

Section 251.052 removes witnesses only for a will written wholly in the testator's handwriting. A person considering that route should have Texas estate-planning counsel determine whether the proposed instrument operates as a will or codicil and coordinates with the existing will.

What formalities apply to a typed codicil?

The ordinary § 251.051 route requires a writing, the required testator or directed signature, and two qualifying subscribing witnesses. Section 253.002 uses the same-formalities rule for a later written instrument that revokes a clause or devise.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Est. Code title 2, subtitle F, chapters 251-258 — complete current wills scheme and chapter index, with no general personal-property-memorandum section. Official Texas Legislative Council Estates Code PDF: https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/SDocs/ESTATESCODE.pdf (accessed 2026-08-11).
• Tex. Est. Code §§ 251.051-.052 — written, signed, two-witness will route and the wholly handwritten holographic exception. Official current chapter: https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/ES/htm/ES.251.htm (accessed 2026-08-11).
• Tex. Est. Code §§ 253.001-.002 — new-will and codicil routes and like formalities for a later written revocation. Official current chapter: https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/ES/htm/ES.253.htm (accessed 2026-08-11).