An ordinary open will in Guatemala must be made as a public deed before a notary, with the required witnesses and signing formalities. For an English-speaking resident, language arrangements deserve attention before the appointment: the testamentary deed requires two interpreters chosen by you if you do not speak Spanish.
This guide covers making the will during your lifetime. For what heirs do after a death, use the inheritance and succession guide; for professional charges, see Guatemala notary fees.
Quick summary: An open will requires a public deed, two qualified witnesses and an uninterrupted reading (Civil Code Arts. 955-956; Código de Notariado Arts. 42 and 44). A closed will uses a sealed cover and a notarial act on that cover (Art. 959). The notarial stamp is Q.25.00 (the stamp law exempts contracts authorized by the Escribano de Gobierno and matters handled by university bufetes populares), with a further fiscal stamp of Q. 200.00 on a closed-will cover. Notary fees are separate. The will-abroad routes in Articles 974-976 expressly concern Guatemalans.
Who can make a will?
Civil Code Article 934 allows a person with civil capacity to dispose of property by will in favor of anyone who is not legally incapable of, or prohibited from, inheriting. Article 935 makes the will a personal, revocable act disposing of all or part of a person’s property after death. Article 936 limits freedom to make testamentary dispositions by the right some people have to maintenance or support.
Article 945 excludes a person under judicial interdiction; a person who is deaf and unable to speak, or who has lost speech, when unable to communicate in writing; and a person who, even without interdiction, lacks intellectual and volitional faculties for any reason at the moment of making the will.
Foreign residents and visitors
Ask your notary to establish capacity in your particular circumstances. The Ley del Organismo Judicial, Article 24, makes status, capacity and family relationships subject to the law of domicile. Article 26 recognizes a foreign individual’s status and capacity acquired under personal law, provided this does not conflict with public order. Article 27 subjects property to the law of its location. These rules require attention to your circumstances; a passport alone does not establish testamentary capacity.
Do not assume that being an English speaker, a foreign resident or a visitor gives you the consular route described below for Guatemalans.
Open or closed: what changes?
The Civil Code, Article 954, distinguishes ordinary and special wills. The ordinary forms are open (abierto) and closed (cerrado).
| Form | What the law requires | Important conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Open will | A public deed, an essential validity requirement; the notary drafts and reads it before the witnesses in a single uninterrupted act | You may give the notary written instructions or express your wishes orally; the testamentary-deed formalities also apply (Arts. 955-956) |
| Closed will | The will goes inside a cover from which it cannot be removed without breaking the cover; the notary records the act on the cover | Applicable open-will solemnities still apply. You declare before the notary, witnesses and any interpreters that it contains your will, who wrote and signed it, and the name of anyone who signed at your request because you could not (Art. 959) |
For a closed will, the act on the cover is read and signed by the testator, witnesses and any interpreters, then authorized with the notary’s signature and seal. If you cannot sign, you give a fingerprint and an additional witness chosen by you signs at your request. The notary transcribes the act into the protocol, where everyone involved also signs, before returning the closed will to you (Arts. 959 and 962).
Blind people and people who cannot read and write cannot make a closed will (Art. 960). A person who cannot speak but can write may make one, but both the will and the act on its sealed cover must be handwritten and signed by that person (Art. 961).
Do not treat a separate handwritten list as part of the will merely by referring to it: Article 939 says referenced papers do not become part of the will even if the testator orders it.
Preparing for the notary appointment
Confirm identification and personal details. Article 29 of the Código de Notariado requires names, age, marital status, nationality, occupation and domicile. When the notary does not know the person, the text permits identification through a cédula de vecindad or passport, through two witnesses known to the notary, or both means when the notary considers it appropriate. For a foreign reader, the passport route is expressly in the text; have the notary confirm the identification arrangements before attending.
Prepare your wishes. For an open will you can hand over written instructions or state your wishes orally (Civil Code Art. 956). Article 29 also requires the notary to have seen the titles and supporting documents appropriate to the nature of the act. Ask which documents are appropriate to the property and dispositions you intend to include.
Arrange eligible witnesses. Article 42 requires two witnesses; Article 51 makes witnesses compulsory for wills. Under Article 52 they must have civil capacity and be suitable. They must be known to the notary, or, if not previously known, the notary must establish their identity by legal means.
Article 53 excludes people who cannot read and write or cannot speak or understand Spanish; people with a manifest interest in the act; deaf, speech-impaired or blind people; the notary’s relatives; and the testator’s relatives. The exception allowing a relative to sign at someone’s request does not apply to wills or donations on death.
Arrange interpreters if you do not speak Spanish. The will-specific rule in Article 42 requires two interpreters chosen by the testator, translating the dispositions as they are expressed. Article 29’s general interpreter provision says the interpreter should, if possible, be a sworn translator; it also provides for a witness to sign for an interpreter unable to sign. Have the notary organize these requirements together with the will-specific signing formalities.
What happens when an open will is executed?
Under Article 42, the deed records the time and place, your nationality, the presence of the qualified witnesses, and the notary’s assessment of your mental capacity. You express your own wishes. It is read clearly and distinctly by you or a person you choose; at the end of each clause, the notary must establish, seeing and hearing you, that it faithfully expresses your wishes. Civil Code Article 956 also requires the notary’s reading before the witnesses in one uninterrupted act.
The testator, witnesses, any interpreters and notary sign in the same act. If you cannot or do not know how to sign, Article 42 requires your fingerprint and an additional witness with the same qualifications as the instrumental witnesses to sign for you. Article 29 specifies the right thumbprint, or another fingerprint identified by the notary if that is unavailable.
For a blind testator, Civil Code Article 957 adds a witness and requires two readings aloud: first by the notary, then by a witness chosen by the testator, with special mention of this circumstance. Under Article 958, a deaf testator making an open will must personally read the instrument aloud intelligibly before the notary and witnesses, and this must be recorded.
These formalities matter to validity. Código de Notariado Article 44 lists the essential testamentary requirements in addition to Article 31’s general requirements. Civil Code Article 977 makes a will void when essential solemnities are missing; a closed will is also void if its sealed enclosure appears broken.
Fees and stamp charges
Notary fees and payment conditions are freely agreed under Código de Notariado Article 106. Without an agreement, the statutory schedule applies in national currency. Article 109(5) directs the fee for authorizing a will or donation on death to the rules for deeds of undetermined or determined value, as applicable. See the notary-fee guide for that separate subject, and ask for an itemized quote.
| Charge | Source amount or rule | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Notary’s professional fee | By agreement; otherwise the applicable Article 109 schedule | Authorization of the will; distinct from stamps |
| Notarial stamp | Q.25.00 | Wills and donations on death; Ley del Timbre Forense y Timbre Notarial (the law exempts contracts authorized by the Escribano de Gobierno and matters handled by university bufetes populares) |
| Fiscal stamp on the closed-will cover | Q. 200.00 | Closed-will covers; SAT’s Ley del Impuesto de Timbres Fiscales, item 9 |
| AGP opening of the special-copy plica | Q.75.00 | Each opening of the plica containing special copies of ordinary open wills and donations on death, their revocations or any other modifications |
The notarial stamp appears in the Ley del Timbre Forense y Timbre Notarial; the closed-cover charge appears in SAT’s fiscal-stamp law. The separate archive-opening charge comes from the AGP tariff. Opening the AGP’s special-copy plica is a different service from making a closed will.
Where the will is kept and how its existence is recorded
The open will is a public deed in the notary’s protocol. During the testator’s lifetime, only the testator may receive a formal copy or testimonio of the instrument (Código de Notariado Art. 75).
Article 37(a) requires the special copy to be sent to the Archivo General de Protocolos within twenty-five working days after execution. Outside the department of Guatemala, it may be delivered to the first-instance judge, who issues a receipt and immediately forwards it. For wills, donations on death, and their modifications or revocations, the copy goes in a plica signed and sealed by the notary, identifying the instrument’s order number, place, date, time, object, testator and protocol-paper details. Under Article 82, the archive permits free consultation in its office, but a living person’s will may be shown only to that person after identity verification and to the authorizing notary.
The notary must also notify the Property Registrar in writing within fifteen days after authorizing the will, on the paper specified in Article 45. That provision carries a fine of twenty-five quetzales, without prejudice to other civil and criminal responsibilities. Civil Code Articles 1185 and 1193 establish the separate register of wills and donations on death. After death, Article 1194 requires presentation of the open will’s testimonio, a duplicate and the death-record certification for annotation.
For a closed will, Article 963 permits keeping it yourself, entrusting it to a trusted person, or depositing it with the notary; the arrangement must be recorded in the act. Under Article 964, its custodian must present it to the competent judge as soon as they learn of the death and no later than ten days, with liability for resulting damages if they fail to do so.
For the heir’s next steps, see inheritance and succession in Guatemala.
Guatemalans making a will abroad
Civil Code Article 974 expressly allows Guatemalans outside Guatemala to make a will under the law of the country where they are. It also permits them to make a will at sea aboard a foreign ship under that ship’s national law.
Article 976 provides another route for Guatemalans abroad: an open or closed will before Guatemala’s diplomatic or consular agent resident in the place of execution, if that official is a notary. Article 975 says a joint will made abroad by Guatemalans is not valid in Guatemala, even if local law permits it.
If you hold a different nationality, ask your Guatemalan lawyer to assess your foreign will and circumstances individually. The wording of these articles does not establish the same consular entitlement for every foreign national.
Special wills for exceptional circumstances
The Civil Code also provides military, maritime, epidemic-isolation and prisoner forms (Arts. 965-972). Their validity is conditional: Article 973 requires death during the qualifying situation or within ninety days after it ends. Consult a notary about the particular form rather than treating an emergency form as a substitute for the ordinary appointment.
Changing a will and avoiding a joint instrument
A will remains revocable (Art. 935). Revocation requires the formalities necessary for making a will (Art. 982). A later will revokes the earlier will unless you expressly preserve all or part of the earlier document (Art. 983).
Spouses must make their wishes separately: Article 938 prohibits two or more people making a will in the same act. Article 937 also prohibits reciprocal succession contracts between spouses or anyone else and makes a will executed under such a contract void. Under Articles 979-980, someone who coerces a person into making, changing or revoking a will, or prevents them from doing so, loses the inheritance rights they would otherwise have under the will or the law.
Sources and scope
- Organismo Judicial (CENADOJ): Código Civil
- Organismo Judicial (CENADOJ): Código de Notariado
- Ministerio de Gobernación: Ley del Organismo Judicial
- eRegulations: Ley del Timbre Forense y Timbre Notarial, Decreto 82-96
- SAT: Ley del Impuesto de Timbres Fiscales y de Papel Sellado Especial para Protocolos, Decreto 37-92
- Archivo General de Protocolos: Tarifario, Acuerdo 24-2011
Linked sources accessed 23 October 2026.
Have your notary confirm the current text before signing.
General information, not legal advice. Consult a Guatemalan notary or lawyer to prepare your will and coordinate any foreign estate documents.