Drafting a Will - a Document That Must Work on the Day You Can No Longer Explain What You Meant
A will is the only document whose author nobody can ask, at the time it is used, what they meant. Every ambiguity ("the flat to the children", "the property to my wife, the rest to my brother"), every scenario left out (an heir dies before the testator, the property is sold, a child is born) and every formal defect unravels in court years later - without the testator present. That is why drafting a will means writing a legal text, not writing down a wish, and the lawyer's work here is working through scenarios: what happens if.
This page describes how a will is written that withstands a challenge and does exactly what the testator wanted: which form, which wording, which additional instruments (substitute heir, burden, executor), how capacity is documented, when a will is not the right instrument at all and what serves better, and how a company shareholding and assets abroad are planned. Contesting a will and the compulsory share have their own pages.
Updated · Practice area: Inheritance lawyer
A Will and Its Four Alternatives - What Each Gives and What It Takes Away
Choosing the instrument answers one question: what matters more to the testator - control to the end of life, protection from the compulsory share, or immediate transfer of the property.
Drafting a Will - the Stages From a Wish to a Document Registered in the Register
Mapping the property and the heirs
What property exists and in whose name it is (the spouse's marital share cannot be disposed of by will), who the heirs of the first order are and how much their compulsory share is, which property is in the registry and which is not, whether there is property abroad. The lawyer does not draft a will without this map - a will over property the testator does not own is empty.
Working through the scenarios
What happens if an heir dies before the testator (a substitute heir or their children), if the property is sold and another bought (general wording instead of a specific address), if a new child is born, if the heirs fall out with each other (an executor). The quality of a will is measured by the number of scenarios worked through.
Choosing the form and wording the text
The notarised form is the standard: it strengthens the presumption of capacity and is registered; a handwritten will only in exceptional cases. The text: heirs identified by personal number, property described so as to survive change, shares by specific items or proportions, the compulsory share taken into account so that the will does not turn out "partly void".
Documenting capacity
For an elderly or ill testator the lawyer arranges a psychiatrist's or neurologist's opinion on capacity on the day of the will, asks the notary for a video recording and has the testator explain the will's content in their own words on record. This "defence file" closes a challenge years later at a single hearing.
Adding the additional instruments
A substitute heir for every principal heir; a testamentary burden (obliging the heir to transfer something to or provide for a specific person - a sister's right to live in the flat, for example); an executor for heirs in conflict; a check of the charter for a business shareholding. The lawyer includes each for a specific need, not as boilerplate.
Certification, registration and storage
Certification before a notary without witnesses (a notarised will needs none) or with witnesses if the testator cannot sign; registration in the unified register, where it surfaces automatically when the estate opens; one copy with the notary, one with the lawyer. The testator is advised to tell a trusted person that a will exists - without its content.
Five Phrasings That Wreck a Will, and How to Write Them Correctly
First - an ambiguous heir: "the children" (which children - adopted too, born later too?), "my family", "whoever looks after me". Correctly: name, surname, personal number and, for a group, a definition of the group ("all my children living on the day the estate opens, in equal shares"). Second - ambiguous property: "the flat" for a testator who has two flats, or a specific address that was sold after the will and another bought. Correctly: the type of property and its identifier, plus a general clause ("or whatever dwelling I have acquired in place of this flat").
Third - the missing "if": an heir dies before the testator, and that part of the will passes by intestacy - often to the very person the testator was excluding. Correctly: a substitute heir for every disposition. Fourth - ignoring the compulsory share: a will "leaving everything to X" will in any case be limited by the compulsory shares of the other first-order heirs, but knowing that lets the testator decide which property those shares are satisfied from. Fifth - a condition contrary to law ("if she does not marry", "if he converts to this religion") - it is void and sometimes casts doubt on the whole disposition; permitted conditions (finishing education, reaching an age) and a burden are the alternative.
Amending a will is a separate question: each new will revokes the previous one only where they conflict, and five "layers" of wills become an interpretation dispute years later. Correctly: a new will always begins by revoking all previous wills in full and restating the entire intention. Revoking a will without a new one is done by a separate notarial declaration recorded in the register - tearing up a copy means nothing legally while a copy remains with the notary and an entry in the register.
What Separates a Will From a Template
- Substitute heir
- A person who takes the property if the principal heir dies before the testator, renounces or is found unworthy. Without one the disposition falls to the intestacy rules; with one the testator's intention operates on the second line too.
- Testamentary burden
- An obligation imposed on the heir in favour of a third party - a payment, a right to live in the flat, care, the transfer of an item - within the value of the estate. The beneficiary has a claim against the heir; a burden is a way to leave the property to one person and still provide for another.
- Executor
- A person (an heir or someone else) who ensures the estate is distributed according to the will - manages the property, pays debts, performs burdens, transfers to the heirs. Essential where the heirs are in conflict, where there are minors and where there is a business.
- Permitted condition
- An inheritance may be tied to a condition if it is lawful and does not restrict the heir's personal freedom: reaching an age, completing education, using the property for a purpose. Restrictions on marriage, religion or profession are void.
- Unified register
- A notarised will is entered in the unified electronic register and the notary sees it automatically when the estate opens; a handwritten will left in a drawer may never be found. Registration is the guarantee that the will is "discovered".
- Amendment and revocation
- A will can be changed or revoked at any time, without consent or reasons - by a new will or a separate notarial declaration. A life maintenance contract and a gift, by contrast, cannot be revoked unilaterally - that is the main difference in the choice.
Before Drafting a Will - the Questions the Lawyer Puts to the Testator
- Who the first-order heirs are and how much their compulsory share is - and which property should satisfy it if the will reduces them.
- Which property is the spouse's marital share and cannot be disposed of by will - and whether the spouse needs a will of their own.
- What happens if any heir dies before the testator - a substitute heir for each.
- Whether there is property likely to change after the will (sold, replaced) - the need for general wording.
- Whether there is a person who should not inherit but should be provided for - a burden or a right of residence.
- A company shareholding - what the charter says about heirs joining, and whether the charter needs amending alongside the will.
- Property abroad - whether a Georgian will operates in that country, or whether a separate will in that country's form is needed.
- The testator's health and age - the need to document capacity on the day of signing.
Three Planning Cases
An elderly mother cared for by one child and not the other
A mother wanted the flat to go to the daughter who cared for her, but feared the son's compulsory share and a challenge. The lawyer: a life maintenance contract with the daughter (the flat passes, the duty of care documented by monthly records), a will over the remaining property in equal shares to both children, a psychiatrist's opinion and the notary's video on the day of both documents. After the mother's death the son attempted a challenge - the case ended at the first hearing.
A business founder with three children
The 100% owner of a company wanted the business to go to the one child who worked in it and the other two to be provided for in money. The lawyer: an amendment to the charter (heirs join with the partners' consent, a buy-out price formula), a will leaving the shareholding to one child and the other property to two, with a burden on the child to pay the two sisters part of the company's valuation over three years, and the company's accountant as executor. The estate opened without conflict.
Five "layers" of wills replaced by one
A testator had made five wills over 12 years with different notaries, each partly altering the previous one; the heirs could not tell what applied. The lawyer retrieved every will from the unified register, worked out the real intention with the testator and drafted one new will revoking all previous ones in full and backing every disposition with a substitute heir. The testator presented this will to the children personally.
Questions About Drafting a Will and Planning
I can write a will by hand myself. Why do I need a lawyer and a notary?
You can, and it will be valid if written entirely in your hand, signed and dated - but handwritten wills are precisely the ones most often contested (handwriting, date, capacity) and most often "lost" (not in the register). The notary provides the form and the presumption, the lawyer the text that anticipates scenarios. The value of a will exceeds the cost of drafting it a thousandfold.
I want to leave the flat to my child, but I want to live in it for the rest of my life. A will or a gift?
Both work, with different risks: by will the flat stays yours to the end and you can change your mind, but the compulsory share and a challenge remain; by gift with a registered right of residence the flat is your child's now, protected from the compulsory share, and your residence is secured by the registry - but you cannot take it back. The third route is life maintenance, if you need care. The lawyer builds the choice on your family situation, not in the abstract.
Can I exclude someone in my will - a child I have no contact with, for example?
You can leave them nothing by will, but a first-order heir is still entitled to the compulsory share (half of the intestate share) - complete exclusion is possible only on a reasoned ground of unworthiness, reviewed by the court. Realistic planning: take the compulsory share into account and decide which property satisfies it, or transfer part of the property during life through an instrument protected from the compulsory share.
I have property in Georgia and abroad. Is one will enough?
As a rule, no: a Georgian will governs real estate located in Georgia, while property abroad is governed by that country's law, which may not recognise a Georgian will in form or content (different compulsory share rules, a mandatory notarial form, inheritance tax). The standard solution is two coordinated wills - one for each country's property in that country's form, drafted so that neither revokes the other. The lawyer arranges this together with a foreign colleague.
I wrote a will years ago and much has changed since. What should I do?
A new will that revokes all previous ones in full and restates the whole intention - not an "addition" or "amendment" to the old one, which leaves an interpretation dispute. The lawyer checks all your wills in the unified register (testators sometimes forget one), maps the property and the heirs afresh and drafts one document. Reviewing a will at every significant change (marriage, divorce, a child, a sale of property) is the norm, not the exception.
Lawyers for Drafting a Will and Estate Planning
Drafting a will means working through scenarios - who, what, and what happens if - and preparing the documents that close a challenge years later at a single hearing. Within 15 minutes the coordinator connects you with a lawyer who drafts wills, life maintenance contracts and business succession plans.
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