Is An Online Will Legally Valid in Mississippi?

Yes, in Mississippi online wills are legally valid. However, there are some rules you should know about what makes them legal. You have to take steps beyond simply creating one online. Learn more about those rules below.

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Not to worry, FeedingBird guides you every step of the way.

What Makes an Online Will Legally Valid in Mississippi?

Online wills are legal in Mississippi, but electronic wills are not recognized, so the document must be printed on paper. To ensure it's legal, the document must be signed by the person stating their wishes (the testator) and witnessed according to Mississippi's execution rules. You don’t need to notarize the will unless you want to make the will self-proving.

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Mississippi does recognize holographic, or handwritten, wills with no witnesses required, as long as the entire document has been created in the testator's own handwriting and contains their signature.

What You Need to Know about Online Wills in Mississippi

Estate laws are filled with complexities and can be significantly different from state to state. For those reasons, it’s important to ensure your online will is structured appropriately or you could be facing a long, complex legal process.

Mississippi Property Laws

Mississippi is a common law property state, not a community property state, which means that ownership of an asset is determined by the name on the deed, title, or account.

Mississippi Probate

All wills go through probate in Mississippi unless the personal property is valued at $75,000 or less, in which case you could opt for a small estate affidavit. If that’s not possible, you would need to put your assets in a trust to circumvent probate. There is no state estate or inheritance tax in Mississippi.

Avoiding Probate in Mississippi

• Put your assets in a revocable living trust to identify who will manage distributing your assets after your death.

• Name beneficiaries on financial and retirement accounts to identify who ownership for those accounts after your death.  

• Identify a beneficiary for real estate. Mississippi has allowed transfer-on-death deeds since 2020, which automatically name a new owner for that property upon your death.

• Establish joint ownership with right of survivorship to ensure automatic transfer of ownership of any joint property.

Learn more about what‘s needed for trusts in Mississippi.