The will can be drawn up in an authentic form, at a notary or in holographic form that is entirely written, dated and signed by the testator. However, its preparation in authentic form is recommended, due to the benefits offered:
- certainty about the testator
- allows a clear determination of the will of the testator
- avoids inefficiency of the clauses or inability of their execution due to the failure of the testator to respect the mandatory legal provisions
- enjoys a probative force of authentic deeds, and, as a result, the burden of proof lies with the one who denies it
- further contestation is more difficult
- a copy of the document shall be kept permanently in the archives of the notarial office or Chamber of notaries, so it cannot be stolen, hidden or destroyed by interested persons, and if it disappeared a duplicate may be obtained or it can be reconstituted under the law
- the fact of existence of the will is ensured through the inscription of the deed in the National Notarial Register for the evidence of liberalities (R.N.N.E.L)..
The will is an irrevocable deed, meaning that the testator can make as many wills as he wants during his life, by revoking previous wills or completing them, if the new provisions are not contradictory. Revocation of an authentic will is only mandatory through an authentic notarial deed.
The will may contain one or more legacies, meaning provisions through which the testator disposes over his goods. Depending on the part of those goods that the testator wishes to dispose by will, the legacies are divided in:
1. Universal legacies, through which the testator disposes that all his movable or immovable goods should devolve upon one or more persons.
2. Legacies with universal title, through which the testator provides that a fraction (part) of his goods should devolve to one or more persons. A fraction means: i) a share part of all his movable and immovable property; ii) a dismemberment of the property (use, usufruct, etc.) over all his movable and immovable goods or over a share part of the inheritance and iii) the property or a dismemberment over all his movable or immovable good or over a share part of the inheritance, determined by their nature and their origins
3. Legacies with particular title, through which the testator disposes over individual goods, identified as such in the content of the deed (a certain immovable or immovable good, another succession etc.)
Even if the most popular purpose of the will is to establish how the movable and immovable estate of the testator will be divided after his death, the deed may contain other clauses as well, equally important:
- A child can be recognized
- A person can be appointed curator by a parent for his child or it can be expressly provided that he removes the possibility of a person to be a curator.
- He can agree or prohibit, after his death, drawing of organs, tissues or human cells in a therapeutic or scientific purpose
- It may be disposed on how to make his own funerals and it may be disposed concerning the body of the testator after death
- It may be disposed the constitution of a foundation, by specifying the purpose and patrimony
- It may be disposed the prohibition of alienation of a good left as a legacy
In order to perform his last wishes, the testator may designate one or more testamentary executors, meaning persons expressly empowered by the deceased for the execution of the testamentary provisions.
