Wills written by an executor and printed wills are commonly used forms of wills in everyday life, but the Civil Code has strict regulations on their conditions for effectiveness. Missing a single step can directly render the will invalid. Understanding the rules in advance can prevent the will from being written in vain.

  A handwritten will requires the presence of two or more witnesses who have no interest in the matter, with one of them acting as the scribe. The content of the will must be orally confirmed by the testator, and the scribe must write it down truthfully. After writing, the testator, the scribe, and the other witnesses must sign their names in their own handwriting and write the year, month, and day; if the testator is unable to sign, they may leave a fingerprint, and the scribe must note this. Witnesses cannot be heirs or legatees, nor can they have any interest in the estate; otherwise, the witness testimony is invalid.

  A printed will also requires that two or more witnesses be present throughout the entire process of forming, entering, printing, and verifying the content of the will. They cannot leave the scene halfway through. Each page of the will must be signed by both the testator and the witnesses, and it is indispensable. Each page must also be handwritten with the complete year, month, and day. Only signing on the last page, not being present throughout the process, witnessing by an unqualified witness, incomplete dates, or dates being typed, will all result in the will not being recognized by law.

  The most common misconception in practice is: finding relatives or heirs as witnesses, signing only one page, not writing the full date, or the date being typed, or the witness leaving halfway through. These minor oversights can all result in the will being declared invalid during inheritance, and ultimately, it can only be handled according to the statutory inheritance.

  Simply put, the core of handwritten and printed wills is: qualified witnesses, presence throughout the process, signing each page in their own handwriting, and writing the complete date on each page. Only by strictly adhering to the legal requirements can the will be genuine and effective, truly realizing the true intentions of the testator.