California Probate Code Section 6240: Using the Statutory Will Form

The California Statutory Will is a fill-in-the-blank form printed word-for-word in Probate Code Section 6240 that lets a California resident write a legally binding will without hiring an attorney. You fill in the blanks, sign it in front of two witnesses, and it works. What you cannot do is rewrite it. The language is locked into the statute, and adding or crossing out words can void the will.¹

What the Form Is and What It Covers

Section 6240 is not a set of drafting rules. It is the will itself, printed inside the code. The instructions at the top tell you to read the whole document before filling anything in, complete the blanks, and sign in front of two witnesses. The form warns on its face that adding or deleting language can invalidate it.¹

The blanks are not the whole story. Section 6241 bakes a set of mandatory clauses into every statutory will even though they never appear on the printed page. Those clauses tell the court what to do if your distribution plan fails, give your executor broad authority to sell, lease, invest, and distribute estate property, and give any guardian you name the same authority a parent with legal custody would have. Section 6243 fills whatever is left over by applying California’s general probate law to anything the chapter does not address.²³

Choosing Who Gets the Balance of Your Estate

The biggest decision on the form is what happens to the balance of your assets, meaning everything you have not carved out as a specific gift. The form gives you two options. Choice One leaves everything to your surviving spouse or registered domestic partner; if that person does not survive you, the assets go to your descendants. Choice Two leaves nothing to your spouse or partner and sends everything to your descendants.¹

If none of your named beneficiaries survive you and no effective distribution can be made, the mandatory clauses take over and your executor distributes the estate to your heirs under California’s intestate succession laws, as if you had never written a will.²

Specific Gifts and Cash Gifts

Beyond the residuary distribution, you can carve out particular items for particular people. Separate sections let you give away your principal residence (subject to any mortgage), your automobiles (subject to any loans), and your furniture, clothing, jewelry, and other personal belongings. Each section is optional, and you use it only when you want that item to go to someone other than whoever takes the balance of your estate.¹

The form also lets you make specific cash gifts to individual people or charities. There is a catch. For each cash gift, you must sign your name in a designated box next to the entry. Skip the signature box and the gift quietly fails, even though the name and amount are filled in.¹

Naming an Executor

The form asks you to nominate an executor, the person or institution that will manage your estate after your death. You can list up to three choices in priority order, so that if your first pick can’t or won’t serve, the next one steps in. The executor gathers your assets, pays debts and taxes, and distributes what remains.¹

Under Section 6241’s mandatory clauses, that executor automatically holds broad powers, including selling estate property at public or private sale, leasing assets, investing surplus cash, and distributing property in kind or in cash. The executor can also divide assets among multiple beneficiaries on a pro rata or non-pro-rata basis, valued as of the distribution date.²

Naming a Guardian for Minor Children

If you have children under 18 and no other living parent would have custody at your death, the form lets you nominate a guardian of the child’s person. As with the executor, you can list up to three choices in priority order.¹ The guardian you name receives the same authority over the child as a parent with legal custody would.²

A guardian nomination in a will is a strong recommendation, not a binding order. The judge still has to confirm the appointment and the child’s best interest controls. But naming someone in writing carries significant weight and heads off the situation where relatives argue about the role with no direction from you.

Age Cap for Young Beneficiaries

The form lets you set an age between 18 and 25 at which a young beneficiary receives their share outright. If you leave it blank, the default is 18. Until the beneficiary reaches the age you picked, the executor can distribute their share to a guardian, a custodian under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, or an adult who has care and custody of the minor.¹²

The cap is 25. If you want to delay an inheritance until a child turns 30 or 35, the statutory will cannot do it. That job requires a custom will with a trust.

Signing It Correctly

Filling in the blanks does not finish the job. A statutory will must be executed the same way as any other California will. Under Probate Code Section 6110, the will must be in writing and signed by the testator. Two witnesses must be present at the same time and either see the testator sign or hear the testator acknowledge the signature, and each witness must understand that the document is a will.⁴

You also need mental capacity. Section 6100.5 defines that as understanding what a will does, knowing what property you own, and recognizing the people your will affects, such as your spouse, children, and parents.⁵

Don’t Use a Beneficiary as a Witness

Your witnesses should have no stake in the will. California does not automatically void a will signed by a beneficiary-witness, but the rule cuts against them. If fewer than two of the subscribing witnesses are disinterested, the law presumes the interested witness obtained their gift through undue influence. That witness can try to overcome the presumption; if they fail, they receive only what they would have inherited had you died without a will.⁶ The simple fix: pick two witnesses who are not named anywhere in the will.

Changing or Revoking the Will

Life changes, and the will should change with it. Under Section 6120, you can revoke a California statutory will two ways. Execute a new will that expressly revokes the old one or is inconsistent enough to replace it. Or physically destroy the document by burning, tearing, or obliterating it with the intent to revoke.⁷

Because the form’s language is locked, you cannot cross out a line and initial the change the way you might on a custom will. If you need to swap an executor or add a beneficiary, you have two practical options: fill out a brand-new statutory will (which revokes the old one by inconsistency), or have an attorney draft a codicil that meets the same execution requirements. For anything beyond a single minor change, starting fresh with a new form is cleaner than layering amendments on top of a standardized document.

What the Statutory Will Does Not Control

A common misconception about any will is that it governs everything you own. It doesn’t. Several common asset types pass directly to a named beneficiary or surviving co-owner regardless of what your will says:

Life insurance policies, 401(k)s, and IRAs with a designated beneficiary transfer directly to that person at death.
Real estate or bank accounts held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship pass automatically to the surviving owner.
Bank and brokerage accounts with a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designation skip probate entirely.
Assets you transferred into a revocable living trust during your lifetime are distributed under the trust’s terms, not the will’s.

If the bulk of your wealth sits in retirement accounts, life insurance, or jointly held real estate, the statutory will may direct less of your estate than you expect. Before completing the form, take inventory of which assets actually need a will to route them. Mismatched beneficiary designations and will provisions are one of the most common sources of confusion after a death.

Community property is another limit. California is a community property state, so most assets acquired during marriage belong equally to both spouses. Your statutory will can only direct your half. The surviving spouse already owns their half outright, and no will can take that away. This matters most for Choice Two: leaving your spouse nothing controls only your share of community property and your separate property. Your spouse still keeps their community property interest whatever the will says.

When to Skip the Form and Get a Custom Will

The statutory will trades flexibility for accessibility, and the trade has real consequences. Because you cannot alter the language, you are locked into the distribution schemes and appointment structures the legislature chose. The form falls short when you need any of the following:

A trust of any kind, including a special needs trust for a beneficiary receiving government benefits. An outright inheritance from the statutory will could disqualify them.
An inheritance held past age 25. The statutory cap is 25; custom wills routinely hold assets in trust until 30, 35, or later.¹
Conditional gifts, such as requiring a beneficiary to graduate college or meet some other condition before inheriting.
Instructions for digital accounts, cryptocurrency, or other online assets. The form has no provisions for them.
Estate tax planning. For estates approaching the federal estate tax threshold, sophisticated planning through trusts and gifting strategies can reduce the tax bill significantly. The statutory will offers none of that.⁸
Balancing a blended family. If you have children from a prior relationship and a current spouse, the two standardized distribution choices may not reflect what you actually want.

The statutory will also does not avoid probate. Your estate still goes through California’s probate process unless it qualifies as a small estate under separate rules.⁹ If avoiding probate is a priority, the standard tool is a revocable living trust, which the statutory will cannot create.

Who the Statutory Will Fits

The form fits California residents with straightforward family situations, modest estates, and a clear idea of who should inherit. A single parent who wants everything to go to their children. A married couple where each spouse wants the other to inherit first and then the kids. The form is free, available online and at law libraries, and can be completed in an afternoon.

The worst outcome in estate planning is not an imperfect will. It is no will at all, leaving the state to decide who gets what. If hiring a lawyer has felt expensive or intimidating enough that you keep putting the whole thing off, the California Statutory Will is a legitimate starting point that courts know how to interpret and enforce.

1
Sacramento County Public Law Library. California Probate Code 6240 – California Statutory Will
2
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6241
3
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6243
4
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6110
5
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6100.5
6
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6112
7
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6120
8
Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax
9
California Courts. Small Estate Affidavit to Transfer Personal Property