North Carolina: Self-Proving Affidavit for Wills Requirements

Requirements one by one

Availability and governing law

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 31-11.6 supplies two routes. Subsection (a) combines execution,
attestation, and self-proof in one ceremony. Subsection (b) lets an attested written
will executed under § 31-3.3 be made self-proved later. Both require the testator's
acknowledgment and sworn witness affidavits; the affidavit supplements rather than
replaces valid will execution.

Who signs or swears

The testator and the attesting witnesses participate, but the statute gives them
different roles. In the simultaneous form, the testator signs, is first duly sworn,
and declares willing, free, and voluntary execution. Each witness signs after being
sworn and gives the presence-and-hearing, age, sound-mind, and freedom-from-influence
statements. The later form again separately provides signature positions for the
testator and the attesting witnesses.

When it may be made

The simultaneous route happens with execution. The later route may be used "at any
time subsequent to its execution." That language states no numerical deadline, but
the route still calls for the testator's own acknowledgment and the witnesses'
affidavits, so it supplies no post-death replacement signer.

Officer, oath and seal

The officer rule changes with the route. For simultaneous self-proof, the officer
must be authorized to administer oaths under the law of the state where execution
occurs. For later self-proof, the officer must be authorized under North Carolina
law. In both cases, the officer evidences the act by a certificate under official
seal.

Required recitals and form

Subsection (a) accepts its printed form "or ... a similar form showing the same
intent." Its declarations cover willing execution or direction of another signer,
free and voluntary action, age 18 or older, sound mind, no constraint or undue
influence, and each witness's signing in the testator's presence and hearing.

Subsection (b) instead requires form and content "substantially" like the later form.
That form accounts for either execution in the witnesses' presence or acknowledgment
of a previously affixed signature. It also has the witnesses state that they signed
in the testator's presence and at the testator's request, and that the testator was
over 18 and of sound and disposing mind and memory at execution.

Attachment to the will

For later self-proof, § 31-11.6(b) expressly requires the officer's sealed
certificate to be "attached or annexed to the will." The simultaneous subsection
prints one integrated execution, witness, and officer form but does not add a
separate attached-or-annexed phrase.

Electronic, remote and out-of-state rules

North Carolina's remote-notary law generally prohibits a remote electronic notarial
act for a self-proved will or codicil. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 10B-134.3(c)-(d) and
§ 10B-134.1(10)b create a narrow exception when the remotely located principal is
outside the United States on the military installation or vessel named in qualifying
active-duty orders and is the service member, spouse, or dependent.

Sections 31-72 and 31-73 address storage, not original electronic execution: a
North Carolina lawyer may create an electronic record of an already-executed
attested written will at the testator's direction, and later certify a paper copy.
Section 28A-2A-8(a1)(4) preserves the self-proof probate route for that qualifying
certified paper copy.

Section 31-11.6(d) recognizes qualifying foreign self-proof when the underlying will
is valid under § 31-46(1) or (2) and was self-proved under the law where the testator
was physically present at execution or was domiciled at execution or death.
Subsection (e) separately treats a qualifying military testamentary instrument as
self-proved.

Probate effect and exceptions

Section 28A-2A-8(a)(4) lets an original attested will be probated on a showing that
it was made self-proved under § 31-11.6; subsection (a1)(4) does the same for a
qualifying certified paper copy. Section 31-11.6(c) directs the court to accept a
witness's sworn statement taken under the section as though the court itself had
taken it. Neither current section states that self-proof makes the will conclusive or
immune from a caveat.

If there is no affidavit

For the original will, § 28A-2A-8(a) starts with testimony from at least two
attesting witnesses. If only one is available, that testimony is paired with an
unavailable witness's handwriting, the testator's handwriting unless the testator
signed by mark, and other circumstances satisfying the clerk about genuineness and
due execution. If no attesting witness is available, handwriting proof for at least
two witnesses replaces their testimony, along with the testator-handwriting and
circumstantial proof.

A certified paper copy has a shorter substitute-proof sequence under subsection
(a1): two witnesses; one witness plus satisfactory circumstances; or, if none is
available, satisfactory circumstances alone. Subsection (b) permits other competent
testimony when the listed evidence for either form is unavoidably lacking or
inadequate.

What trips people up

The later route changes both the officer rule and the attachment rule

A signing-day form may use an oath officer authorized where the will is executed.
The later route says the officer must be authorized under North Carolina law and
that the sealed certificate must be attached or annexed. Treating the two forms as
interchangeable can miss both requirements.

The attorney-storage affidavits are not the will's self-proving affidavit

Section 31-72 requires an attorney's sworn certification when converting the signed
paper will into an electronic record, and § 31-73 requires another sworn
certification for a paper copy of that record. Those certifications establish copy
accuracy and storage facts. The attested will itself must have been made self-proved
under § 31-11.6 to use § 28A-2A-8(a1)(4).

Common questions

What counts as an unavailable witness?

Section 28A-2A-8(c) includes a witness who is dead, outside North Carolina, cannot be
found within the state, is incompetent, is physically unable to testify, or refuses
to testify. That definition determines when the one-witness, no-witness, and
substitute-evidence routes open.

Is a stored paper will presumed revoked if the original later disappears?

No. If the will was stored as an electronic record under § 31-72, subsection (b)
says later loss or destruction of the attested written will is neither revocation nor
a presumption of revocation.

Statutes and sources

• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 31-11.6 — simultaneous and later self-proof forms, signer and
  officer rules, seal and attachment, court treatment, and foreign and military
  recognition.
  https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_31/GS_31-11.6.pdf
  (accessed 2026-08-01)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A-2A-8 — probate by self-proof or alternate witness,
  handwriting, circumstantial, and other competent evidence for originals and
  qualifying certified paper copies.
  https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_28A/GS_28A-2A-8.pdf
  (accessed 2026-08-01)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 31-72 and 31-73 — attorney electronic storage, copy
  certifications, nonrevocation, and certified-paper-copy probate.
  https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_31/GS_31-72.pdf
  https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_31/GS_31-73.pdf
  (accessed 2026-08-01)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 10B-134.1 and 10B-134.3 — remote electronic notarization
  prohibition and the overseas-military exception.
  https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_10B/GS_10B-134.1.pdf
  https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_10B/GS_10B-134.3.pdf
  (accessed 2026-08-01)