Article 4A.

Self-Proved Wills.

§ 31-11.6.  How attested wills may be made self-proved.

(a) Any will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state where execution occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, in the following form, or in a similar form showing the same intent:

"I, ________, the testator, sign my name to this instrument this ____ day of ______, ____ and being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my last will and that I sign it willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that I am eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

_______________________________________

Testator

We ________, ________, the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument, being first duly sworn, and do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as his last will and that he signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for him), and that each of us, in the presence and hearing of the testator, hereby signs this will as witness to the testator's signing, and to the best of our knowledge the testator is eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

_______________________________________

Witness

_______________________________________

Witness

THE STATE OF ______.

COUNTY OF ______.

Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by ________. the testator and subscribed and sworn to before me by ________ and ________, witnesses, this ____ day of

________

(SEAL)

(SIGNED) ___________________________

(OFFICIAL CAPACITY OF OFFICER)"

(b) An attested written will executed as provided by G.S. 31-3.3 may at any time subsequent to its execution be made self-proved, by the acknowledgment thereof by the testator and the affidavits of the attesting witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of this State, and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, attached or annexed to the will in form and content substantially as follows:

"STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

"COUNTY/CITY OF ________

"Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared ________, and ________, known to me to be the testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument and, all of these persons being by me first duly sworn. The testator, declared to me and to the witnesses in my presence: That said instrument is his last will; that he had willingly signed or directed another to sign the same for him, and executed it in the presence of said witnesses as his free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed; or, that the testator signified that the instrument was his instrument by acknowledging to them his signature previously affixed thereto.

The said witnesses stated before me that the foregoing will was executed and acknowledged by the testator as his last will in the presence of said witnesses who, in his presence and at his request, subscribed their names thereto as attesting witnesses and that the testator, at the time of the execution of said will, was over the age of 18 years and of sound and disposing mind and memory.

_______________________________________

Testator

_______________________________________

Witness

_______________________________________

Witness

_______________________________________

Witness

Subscribed, sworn and acknowledged before me by ________, the testator, subscribed and sworn before me by ________, ________ and ________ witnesses, this ____ day of ______, A.D. ____

(SEAL)

(SIGNED) ___________________________

(OFFICIAL CAPACITY OF OFFICER)"

(c) The sworn statement of any such witnesses taken as herein provided shall be accepted by the court as if it had been taken before such court.

(d) Any will recognized as valid under G.S. 31-46(1) or (2) and shown by the propounder to have been made self-proved under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the testator was physically present at the time of execution or the place where the testator was domiciled at the time of execution or at the time of death shall be considered as self-proved.

(e) A military testamentary instrument executed in accordance with the provisions of 10 U.S.C. § 1044d(d) or any successor or replacement statute shall be considered as self-proved. (1977, c. 795, s. 1; 1979, c. 536, s. 1; 1981, c. 599, s. 8; 1999-456, s. 59; 2013-91, s. 1(f); 2019-178, s. 3(a).)