I would be interested as well, nobody has done that? hard to believe...

 

I have a friend here who penned their will by hand and just had it notarized at city hall. It is called a holographic will, and is apparently recognized here as legal. Here is some good info: Will in Philippines | Philippine Will | Inheritance Tax Laws

 

Here is one on this site that you can modify and use accordingly. Just make sure the Notary information on the form is shown as is.
Last Will and Testament - Philippine Legal Form

 

Thanks Pat, I could not get the page to load but today it worked...

 

hi ya
Was told that you need to have your Will notarized by your national embassy, not sure as to how much truth is in this.

 

It is my understanding that if all your assets are in the Philippines and the beneficiaries are Philippines citizens, it is not necessary to have your embassy notarize your Will.

 

Update: Went to the Dumaguete City Hall Legal Office today, 2nd floor, with my modified Last Will and Testament (LW&T) form that I downloaded from the Philippines government web site and modified to my requirements. Following is the direction I received from the City Attorney and required changes.
1. You must bring three witnesses that know you with you for the interview and notarization. Those witnesses would be listed on the Attestation Clause section of the form. They would sign their names in that section, watch you sign the LW&T, then they will sign each page of the LT&T on the left side.
2. In my case, our properties and vehicles are in my wife's name so they should not be include in the declaration of assets you declare. My primary objective is to cover our joint dollar and peso bank accounts which, even though joint accounts, would be help up in Probate for probably a year or more without a LW&T.
3. You must name an executioner of the will.
4. In the joint acknowledgment section, the CTC Number shown on the standard form is no longer used. You will use a passport number or Philippines Drivers license number instead.
5. Bring a photo copy of the ID you will use.
6. Not sure of the office hours, I was there at 10am and 2pm and just a brief wait,
7. They told me the cost is 1000 pesos.
I will return next week with the required witnesses and get this done. Let me know if I can be of assistance.

 

Thanks for the info.

I would think a joint account could be easily cleared out by your wife after your demise without going through probate since she would know you were gone before the bank or anyone else would? That is if the name on the account is listed as husband or wife and not husband and wife. The latter requires two signatures for withdrawals while the former does not.

3. Do you mean executor? Using the word executioner sounds a bit morbid.

 

Greg, when the bank finds out a client has passed away, they are required to lock the accounts. That happened to Jellyfish's wife when he was killed 2 years ago and the accounts went into probate.. You are correct on Executor.