Families with connections to more than one country may discover that their estate planning documents were prepared at different times for different groups of assets. A person might have signed a will abroad years before purchasing California property or creating a separate plan after moving to the United States. Foreign wills in California require coordinated review because proper execution, interpretation, and interaction with later documents are separate questions. For Southern California residents with international ties, assembling the complete document set can prevent a local planning update from creating an unintended conflict elsewhere.

Probate Code section 6113 recognizes several routes by which a written will may be validly executed, including compliance with the law of the place where it was signed. The statute also addresses specified connections involving domicile, a place of abode, or nationality at relevant times. This means that a will should not be dismissed merely because it was prepared outside California or followed a different execution procedure. It also means that establishing execution validity does not, by itself, answer every question about which assets the document governs or how another jurisdiction will treat it.

A later will can create problems if its revocation language is broader than the client intended when maintaining separate plans for different countries. Probate Code section 6120 recognizes revocation through a subsequent will that expressly revokes an earlier will or does so by inconsistency. Whether particular documents conflict requires examination of their wording and applicable law, including advice from professionals familiar with the other jurisdiction. A new local document should therefore not be drafted in isolation when the client intends an earlier foreign will to remain operative for specified property.

Translation is a practical concern when family members, advisers, and institutions do not share the language used in the original document. An informal summary may communicate the general plan while missing a condition, definition, or revocation clause that changes the legal analysis. A coordinated review can identify what translation or authentication is needed for the particular purpose and preserve the relationship between the translated text and the original. Keeping complete copies, execution information, and relevant professional contact details together makes later questions easier to investigate without relying on memory or incomplete excerpts.

Consider a hypothetical client who owns a California residence and an apartment in another country, with a separate will intended to cover the foreign apartment. The client may want a new California estate plan without changing the earlier arrangements abroad, but a standard revocation clause could raise questions about that intention. Counsel in the relevant jurisdictions can compare the documents and confirm the scope each is intended to address. That coordination can also identify assets or family circumstances that do not fit neatly into the original division and require a more deliberate planning decision.

Foreign wills in California should be reviewed whenever another document is signed, significant property is acquired, or residence and family circumstances change. The review can address execution records, intended asset coverage, potentially inconsistent provisions, and the professionals responsible for each jurisdiction's legal questions. Families administering an estate after death can begin by preserving every known will and avoiding an assumption that the most recently discovered document is the controlling one. This article provides general information, not legal advice, and international estate planning requires analysis of the laws that apply to the particular people, documents, and property.

Key takeaways

• California recognizes specified execution rules for wills signed elsewhere. Probate Code section 6113

• Later wills can revoke earlier provisions expressly or through inconsistency. Probate Code section 6120

• Coordinate the complete documents across relevant jurisdictions.

For assistance reviewing California planning alongside foreign documents, Call Westlake Law Group at (818) 444-2022. The office is located at 30699 Russell Ranch Road, North Building, Suite 210, Westlake Village, California. Virtual consultations are available throughout Southern California.