GD9 CTW fileÒ Legal 01, Ô The purpose for writing a will is to avoid litigation when the personal property of a deceased person is disposed after his or her death. Special wording is not required to legalize the will, but laws of the state require that certain formalities should be followed to execute the will. The will must be signed by the person in the presence of the testator or testatrix and the number of witnesses that are required. Each signature must appear on the same page. A properly executed will can be changed only by making an addition to the will, called a codicil, or by drawing up a new will and destroying the old one. A will may have more than one codicil, but each codicil must be written and executed with just the same formality as the original will. The codicil is then placed in a separate envelope and is not attached to the will. Scrupulous care in preparing, typing, and executing a will can help ensure the validity of a will. Any alteration may invalidate a will. Each page of a will must be numbered consecutively, and each page may end with a hyphenated word to protect against the fraudulent insertion of pages. The signatures of the testator or testatrix and the required witnesses must immediately follow the last paragraph of a will and may not appear on a separate page. Upon the death of the testator or the testatrix, the designated executor or executrix must apply to the court for authority to administer the estate. The witnesses prove that the will is authentic.