ChesCo Notary

Free tool

Preparing an estate plan signing

Estate packages carry more signatures, more witnesses and more certificate pages than anything else I notarize, and they are the signings most often derailed by something small. Work through this once and you get a checklist you can send to the client as it stands.

Built for

  • Estate planning attorneys
  • Paralegals and legal assistants
  • Elder law practices
  • Trust and fiduciary services
  • Financial advisors coordinating an attorney-drafted package

Use it when

  • When you are scheduling the execution appointment for a drafted package.
  • Before you send the client their "what to bring" email, so it is complete the first time.
  • When the signing is happening somewhere other than your office.

An estate package is not one signing, it is a stack of them. A will with a self-proving affidavit, a financial power of attorney that Pennsylvania wants two witnesses on, a healthcare directive with its own formalities, sometimes a trust and a deed. Each has its own certificate page, and each certificate names a specific act.

Nothing here decides any of that for you. You or the drafting attorney decide what the package needs; this organizes what has to be true in the room on the day, and turns it into a checklist a client can actually follow.

0 of 12 answered

  1. Where the signing happens

    Office, client's home, a care community, or a hospital. It changes what I bring.

  2. What is in the package, in one line

    Titles only. No client names and no contents, please.

  3. Every signer AND every witness is confirmed for the same windowDeal breaker

    Two spouses executing mirror wills with two witnesses is five people in one room, and the whole appointment moves at the pace of whoever is missing.

  4. Every signer has current government-issued photo IDDeal breaker

    Current, government-issued, photo, and the original. Not expired, not a photocopy, not a picture on a phone. Witnesses do not need ID from me, only the signers do.

  5. The name on each ID matches the name in the documents

    Maiden names, married names, middle initials, suffixes and trust formalities all count. Estate documents are unusually strict about this.

  6. The documents are printed, assembled and unsignedDeal breaker

  7. The drafting attorney has confirmed which pages carry a notarial certificate, and what each one calls forDeal breaker

    This is your call, never mine. I perform the act the certificate names. If a page has no certificate, or the wrong one, I cannot supply it and I cannot choose one for you.

  8. The drafting attorney's witness instructions are arranged

    A Pennsylvania financial power of attorney calls for two witnesses in addition to the notarization, and I cannot be one of them. Witnesses must be adults who are not the agent named in the document. What YOUR package requires is the drafter's determination, not mine.

  9. You know who is printing, and roughly how many pages

  10. You know whether scan-backs are needed, and by when

  11. You know how the executed originals get back to youDeal breaker

    Estate originals matter more than most. A will that cannot be found is a will that did not exist.

  12. You know whether anything downstream depends on a date

    A closing, a filing, a surgery, a family member flying in.

This runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to me, and no contact details are needed, unless you choose to send the result at the end.

Next step

Hand the execution to me

Send the checklist with the request and I arrive knowing the package, the witness count, the certificate pages and how the originals get back to you. Firms that execute packages regularly can be set up on invoice rather than paying per signing.

Call or text(484) 389-2420
HoursBy appointment
Mon · Wed · Thu 6 AM – 9 PM
Tue · Fri 9 AM – 6 PM
Sat · Sun on request
Same-day & after-hours on request
Service areaChester County & surrounding areas

Your checklist answers are attached automatically. Every signer needs valid government-issued photo ID. Submitting this form is a request, not a confirmed booking.

Thanks, your request is in.

Questions

About Estate Plan Prep

Can a notary tell me which notarial act my document needs?

No. Choosing between an acknowledgment, a jurat and a signature witnessing is a legal decision about what the document is for, and it belongs to whoever drafted it. I am a notary public, not an attorney, so I cannot select the act, draft a certificate, or advise on the package. What I do is perform the act the certificate on the page names, correctly, and tell you plainly if a certificate is missing or does not fit the signing in front of me.

Does a Pennsylvania power of attorney need witnesses as well as a notary?

A financial power of attorney signed in Pennsylvania calls for two witnesses in addition to the notarization. The witnesses have to be adults who are not the agent named in the document, and a notary cannot serve as one of them, so I never count toward your two. Healthcare powers of attorney and advance directives carry their own signing formalities. Which of those apply to your package is the drafting attorney’s determination.

Can you witness the will as well as notarize it?

No, not both. I cannot serve as one of the witnesses a document calls for and also act as the notary on the same signing. Plan on supplying the witnesses. Firms often use their own staff, which works as long as the staff member is an adult and is not named anywhere in the package as a beneficiary, agent or fiduciary.

Will you travel to a client who cannot come to the office?

Yes, and it is a large share of the estate work I do. Homes, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and senior communities across Chester County, plus the nearby Delaware County corridor and the Lancaster County line. If the client is in a facility, the senior facility and hospital checklists cover the access and ID questions that come with those settings.

What does an estate signing cost?

Each notarial act is $5.00, the statutory maximum under 4 Pa. Code § 167.3, plus $2.00 for each additional name in the same certificate. A package with several notarized documents is several acts. On top of that sits one travel and convenience fee starting at $45, not one per document, quoted before I travel and itemized separately on the receipt.

I cover Chester County, Pennsylvania along with the nearby Delaware County corridor and the Lancaster County line, travelling to homes, offices, hospitals and care communities. The statutory notarial fee is $5.00 per act, the maximum set by 4 Pa. Code § 167.3, with a travel and convenience fee from $45 quoted before I set out. See the full fee schedule orbrowse the towns I serve.

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