Court Safekeeping of Original Wills in North Dakota

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Lifetime custody

N.D. Cent. Code § 30.1-11-01 requires the recorder to keep the will sealed and confidential. A conservator may examine a protected testator's will under procedures preserving confidentiality as far as possible, then leave it resealed on deposit.

Lifetime retrieval

The recorder may deliver the will during the testator's life only to the testator or someone authorized in a writing signed by the testator under § 30.1-11-01.

Opening and release after death

On learning of death, the recorder notifies any designated recipient and delivers the will to that person on request, or may send it to the appropriate court. Under § 30.1-11-01, an interested person's written request for court delivery must give the court's complete address and include a death certificate or obituary. Delivery is by hand after court acceptance within the same county, or by certified mail with return receipt to another county.

What trips people up

Under § 30.1-11-02, any custodian, on an interested person's postdeath request, must deliver with reasonable promptness to someone able to secure probate or, if none is known, an appropriate court. Willful non-delivery can cause damages and court-order disobedience can result in contempt. The depository provision, § 30.1-11-01, does not state a deposit fee or depositor receipt.

Common questions

Can the testator's agent retrieve the will simply because the agent deposited it? Section 30.1-11-01 names the testator and people authorized by the testator's signed writing as lifetime recipients.

Is an obituary enough for a court-delivery request? Yes. Section 30.1-11-01 accepts a copy of a death certificate or obituary, along with the complete court address.

Statutes and sources

• N.D. Cent. Code §§ 30.1-11-01–02: current official text, quoted with source URL and access date above.