united-states wills
What is the minimum information required to specify a person in a will?
<p>If person A wants to leave assets to person B in their will, what is the minimum amount of information for person B that person A needs to specify?</p>

<p>Obviously, they need their name... but is anything else <strong><em>required</em></strong>?</p>

<p>Do they need their:</p>

<ol>
<li>Mailing address?</li>
<li>Physical address?</li>
<li>Telephone number?</li>
<li>Birthdate?</li>
<li>Birthplace?</li>
<li>Social Security Number?</li>
<li>Spouse's name?</li>
</ol>

<p>I'm sure more information is better, but I'm interested in learning the <strong><em>minimum</em></strong> required.</p>

<p>Actually, a name <em>isn’t</em> required.</p>

<p>What <em>is</em> required are sufficient particulars to identify a unique individual.</p>

<p>For example, “my son” is adequate where the testator has only one son. Conversely, “John Smith” may be inadequate; the executor may need to look to the context of the testator’s life to identify the particular “John Smith” and even then may struggle if the testator had several acquaintances of that name.</p>

<p>Best practice is to give as much <em>unchanging</em> information as is needed. For example, “My son John Smith (DOB: 23 May 1968)”.</p>

<p>If you mean 'the minimum required for a will to be legal' then (depending slightly on jurisdiction) the answer is "scarcely anything". Even Dale's example of "to my son" where the testator has several sons would still be granted probate; the executor would face a nightmare trying to determine which son was intended, and would almost certainly have to go to court for approval, which would eat up a lot of the estate. If there wasn't enough to pay for a court case, the sons would have to agree a fair distribution, or else the estate remain undistributed.</p>

<p>Which means a more helpful answer is "enough to allow the executors to identify the legatee, perhaps many years after the will is drawn up". I have seen many wills proved leaving money  to "John Smith of 99 Acacia Avenue", even if he has since moved; unless another John Smith has since moved in...</p>
