New York's electronic wills start December 12, 2027, and a will not filed within 30 days is invalid

New York's electronic will law starts on December 12, 2027

Governor Kathy Hochul signed New York's Electronic Wills Act on December 12, 2025, as Chapter 637 of the Laws of 2025. The law adds a new Part 6 to Article 3 of the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL).

As first enacted, the Act was to take effect on the 545th day after it became law. That date no longer controls.

Sen. Luis R. Sepulveda sponsored a chapter amendment, S8887, with Assembly companion bill A9497. The Senate passed it 39-20 on January 28, 2026. The Assembly passed it on February 10. Hochul signed it on February 13 as Chapter 89 of the Laws of 2026.

The amendment changed the effective date to two years after enactment. The Act therefore starts on December 12, 2027.

Before publication, the desk compared the original Senate text of S7416-A with the S8887 chapter amendment side by side. The original bill page still shows the 545-day start date, while the amendment moves it to two years, so a reader who opens only the first bill page will see the wrong date.

The Act is not in effect before December 12, 2027, so a will signed electronically earlier does not qualify as an electronic will under it.

The record must be signed, witnessed and filed

An electronic will is a text-readable record signed under the new execution rules and then filed electronically with the New York State Unified Court System.

The testator must sign at the end of the record. Another person may sign in the testator's name, but only in the testator's physical presence and at the testator's direction.

At least two witnesses must sign. Each witness must be domiciled in a U.S. state. The witnesses may be in the testator's physical presence or electronic presence. The amended law defines electronic presence as real-time communication between people in different locations, using what the amendment calls communication technology.

Each witness must sign within 30 days after observing the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature. The testator also must declare to the witnesses that the instrument is the testator's will.

The will must carry a bold caution to the testator in at least 12-point type.

A will not filed within 30 days is deemed invalid

The electronic will must be filed with the Unified Court System within 30 days after execution. The testator or a duly authorized person may make the filing, and the filing must include the audit trail data.

The will remains in court-system custody until it is removed or revoked. The Act states that an electronic will not filed on time is deemed invalid.

That deadline creates a filing event separate from the signing event. A firm that offers electronic execution would need a docketed filing step, because the 30-day period carries an invalidity consequence.

A date like this belongs on the matter record. Archivar is an operating system for a law firm that answers every call 24/7 in English and Spanish, runs intake, manages matters and remembers everything the firm does.

The Act does not settle every filing detail. The chapter amendment directs the chief administrator of the courts to adopt rules for electronic wills under Judiciary Law section 212, and that rulemaking may take place before the effective date.

The technology must preserve the signing history

The amended requirements reach beyond an electronic image of a signature. The technology must reliably show that the signature is authentic, that the record matches the attested version, whether the record was altered after signing, and the audit trail data.

That makes the platform part of the execution process. The statute requires the audit trail data to accompany the electronic filing.

The chapter amendment also addresses self-proving wills. The testator's acknowledgment and the witnesses' affidavits may be made before an officer authorized to administer oaths, in physical or electronic presence. The will can therefore be executed, attested and made self-proving at the same time.

When contemporaneous electronic affidavits meet the electronic notary requirements, the amendment creates a rebuttable presumption of compliance with the technology requirement.

Revocation can include removal from court custody

The Act permits revocation in three ways. A testator may make a later will, execute a formal writing of revocation, or remove the electronic will from court-system custody.

Removal must be by the testator or an authorized person and must be proved by two witnesses.

Out-of-state execution can still qualify under another jurisdiction's law

An electronic will that does not comply with New York's electronic-will rules may still be formally valid and admissible to probate if it complies with the law of the place where the testator was physically located or domiciled. Section 3-6.4, as amended, contains that choice-of-law provision.

The provision matters for clients who live or own property across state lines, because physical location and domicile can affect which execution rules apply.

The witnesses' location has a defined limit. They may participate from anywhere in the United States, but each must be domiciled in a U.S. state.

Paper wills remain available

Traditional paper wills remain available and valid. The Act does not replace paper execution.

A June 2026 advisory from the law firm Wiggin and Dana expects paper execution to remain the more prudent choice in the early years, and says existing estate plans need not be revisited solely because of the Act.

The Act does not cover electronic execution of trusts, powers of attorney or health care directives.

The chapter amendment also updates EPTL 1-2.19. The definition of “will” now includes electronic records and drops oral declarations. EPTL 3-2.1 is updated to refer to electronic wills.

Until the effective date, the operative start is December 12, 2027. The points to track are the 30-day filing deadline, the audit trail data requirement and the court rules still to come.