Do I have to have my will notarized?

I am a lawyer in CT and practice in this area of the law.  A will is a document that speaks at the time of death.  the decedent's heirs rely on the will to know who gets what property.  Wills are therefore required to be notarized and witnessed becasue there is a chance that people will fight over who gets what property and fights regarding whether the decedent knew what he was doing when he decided to give his property away.  therefore, the will, no matter what state you are in, needs to be witnessed and notarized to make sure that there are people that can come to court to attest to its validity.

Your Will need only be witnessed; not notarized.  However, it you have a self-proving affidavit, that must be notarized.  This affidavit does away with the need to locate the witnesses at such time as the Will is entered into probate.  It's a good idea to have one; it will make things easier and save on expenses if the witnesses do in fact have to be tracked down.

 Note:  The number of witnesses to a Will varies among jurisdictions; sometimes it's two and sometimes it's three.  Just be sure to comply with your state's requirements as to this.