This is general information about a model statute, not advice for your specific situation. The Uniform Probate Code is not law anywhere on its own — only the version a state enacted is — and the rules change.

Uniform Probate Code Section 2-502: What It Actually Requires for a Valid Will

Section 2-502 is the execution provision of the Uniform Probate Code — prepared by the Uniform Law Commission in 1969, last amended in 2019, and enacted in whole or in part in 18 jurisdictions per Cornell's Legal Information Institute. No will is probated under "UPC § 2-502"; it is probated under a state's enacted copy. What follows reads five of them side by side.

What does Uniform Probate Code 2-502 actually require?

Three things, and the section stops there. As enacted, § 2-502(a) requires a will to be (1) in writing; (2) signed by the testator, or in the testator's name by another individual "in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction"; and (3) signed by at least 2 individuals, each of whom witnessed either the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature or of the will. The language is materially identical in MCL 700.2502(1), MGL c.190B § 2-502(a), Utah Code § 75-2-502(1) and Me. tit. 18-C § 2-502(1).

One deadline is not uniform: Michigan, Utah and Maine each require a witness to sign "within a reasonable time after" witnessing the signing or acknowledgment. The Massachusetts version of that clause omits the phrase entirely.

Do the witnesses have to watch the signing, or be in the room together?

No — and this is the most-missed feature of the section. A witness satisfies § 2-502(a)(3) by having seen either the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature or of the will. Across the complete enacted text of MCL 700.2502, MGL c.190B § 2-502, Utah Code § 75-2-502 and Minn. Stat. § 524.2-502, three familiar requirements are absent: the witnesses need not sign in the testator's presence, need not be in each other's presence, and the testator need not declare the document to be a will. That is a drafting choice — the non-UPC states below impose exactly those requirements in their own words.

Is a handwritten will valid under section 2-502?

Under the holographic subsection, yes — an unwitnessed will counts "whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting." That is the text at Utah Code § 75-2-502(2) and Me. tit. 18-C § 2-502(2), neither of which requires a date. Michigan adds one: MCL 700.2502(2) validates a holographic will only "if it is dated."

Massachusetts went the other way: MGL c.190B § 2-502 has no holographic exception at all — though a handwritten will valid where it was executed can still come in through the choice-of-law section below.

A final subsection lets testamentary intent be shown by extrinsic evidence, "including, for a holographic will, portions of the document that are not in the testator's handwriting" (MCL 700.2502(3)).

Does section 2-502 forgive a will that was signed wrong?

No. That is § 2-503, a different section — and it is not everywhere. Harmless error treats a defectively executed document as valid only if the proponent establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent intended it as a will, a revocation, an addition or alteration, or a revival (Utah Code § 75-2-503). Three cautions:

• Massachusetts adopted the code but left § 2-503 "Reserved" — the number exists with no operative text.
• Minnesota's version reaches only "documents and writings executed on or after March 13, 2020" (Minn. Stat. § 524.2-503(b)).
• Section numbers do not travel intact: in Maine's 2017 recodification, § 2-503 is the self-proved-will provision, and Maine's § 2-502 cross-references §§ 2-505 and 2-512.

Who may make a will, and who may witness one?

The companion provision, § 2-501, sets the threshold at "an individual 18 or more years of age who is of sound mind" — word for word the same in MGL c.190B § 2-501 and Utah Code § 75-2-501.

Witness eligibility is § 2-505, and Massachusetts departs sharply. Under Utah Code § 75-2-505, anyone generally competent to be a witness may witness a will, and "the signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it." MGL c.190B § 2-505(b) instead voids a devise to a witness or the witness's spouse unless there are two other subscribing witnesses, or unless the interested witness proves the devise was not the product of fraud or undue influence.

A signature on a self-proving affidavit, meanwhile, "is considered a signature affixed to the will, if necessary to prove the will's due execution" (MGL c.190B § 2-504(c)).

Why does a state's rule look different from section 2-502?

Because § 2-502 is a model — and because it is not self-contained: its own opening clause carves out exceptions. Michigan's opens "Subject to section 1202, and except as provided in" §§ 2503, 2506 and 2513 (MCL 700.2502(1)); Minnesota's points to §§ 524.2-506 and 524.2-513 (Minn. Stat. § 524.2-502).

Section 2-506 is why a will signed elsewhere can still work: a written will is valid if it complies with § 2-502 or with the law of the place of execution, or of the place where the testator was domiciled, had a place of abode, or was a national — at execution or at death (MGL c.190B § 2-506).

Add the state-by-state edits — Michigan's date requirement, Massachusetts's interested-witness purge, Maine's renumbering — and the rule writes itself: the operative citation is the state statute, never the model code. All 51 jurisdictions are on this site by state and by topic.

How do California, New York and Florida differ?

None of the three is a Uniform Probate Code state, and each adds a formality § 2-502 leaves out.

• California: two witnesses "being present at the same time" who witness the signing or acknowledgment and who understand that the instrument is the testator's will (Cal. Prob. Code § 6110(c)(1)) — neither requirement appears in § 2-502. Harmless error sits inside § 6110 as subdivision (c)(2), and the holographic test asks whether the "material provisions" are handwritten (§ 6111(a)) — a different word from "material portions of the document." More: California will requirements.
• New York: signed "at the end thereof"; the testator must declare to each attesting witness that the instrument is their will; both witnesses must attest "within one thirty day period" (N.Y. EPTL § 3-2.1). Holographic wills reach only armed-forces members in actual military or naval service during a declared or undeclared war, those serving with or accompanying them, and mariners at sea (§ 3-2.2) — see traditional and holographic wills in New York.
• Florida: witnesses must "sign the will in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other," and a handwritten will executed under subsection (1) "shall not be considered a holographic will" (Fla. Stat. § 732.502(1)(c), (2)).

Which rules govern is always a question about one state's statute, so start from that state's page — estate planning by state.

Frequently asked questions

What does Uniform Probate Code 2-502 require? A writing, a signature, and at least two witnesses to the signing or the testator's acknowledgment (MGL c.190B § 2-502(a)).

Do the witnesses have to be in the same room? Not under § 2-502 — no same-room, same-time, or in-the-testator's-presence clause. Florida, not a UPC state, does require it (Fla. Stat. § 732.502(1)(c)).

Is a handwritten will valid under 2-502? Under the holographic subsection, yes, if the signature and material portions are handwritten — but Michigan also requires a date (MCL 700.2502(2)), and Massachusetts's § 2-502 has no holographic exception at all.

Is 2-502 the harmless error rule? No — that is § 2-503, which demands clear and convincing evidence of testamentary intent (Utah Code § 75-2-503). Massachusetts left its § 2-503 "Reserved," Minnesota's starts at March 13, 2020, and Maine's § 2-503 is the self-proved-will section.

How many states use the Uniform Probate Code? 18 jurisdictions have enacted it in whole or in part per Cornell's LII — but no two enactments are identical, so the governing citation is always the state's own statute.

Where to start

Work from the three requirements, then check the version your own state enacted. A writing, a signature, and two witnesses to the signing or the testator's acknowledgment is the whole of § 2-502(a) as enacted (Utah Code § 75-2-502(1)); everything else above is a state's edit to it — a date requirement here, a deleted holographic exception there, a harmless-error section that may be "Reserved" or may not exist at all.

Look up your state in will requirements by state, then start your will and get its signing checklist.