Short answer. Not necessarily. A defect in the form or language of the attestation clause does not void a will if there was no bad faith, forgery, fraud or undue influence, and if the will was in fact executed and attested in substantial compliance with the statutory formalities. The omission must be curable from the will itself.

What the law says

In the absence of bad faith, forgery, or fraud, or undue and improper pressure and influence, defects and imperfections in the form of attestation or in the language used therein shall not render the will invalid if it is proved that the will was in fact executed and attested in substantial compliance with all the requirements of article 805.

Civil Code, Article 809 — Substantial Compliance. Read the full provision →

What the law says

The attestation shall state the number of pages used upon which the will is written

Civil Code, Article 805 — Formalities of a Notarial Will. Read the full provision →

What the attestation clause is for

A notarial will must be signed by the testator and attested and subscribed by three or more credible witnesses. The attestation clause is the witnesses' own statement of what they saw: how many pages the will runs to, that the testator signed it and every page, and that the witnesses signed in the presence of the testator and of one another. The page count is there for a practical reason — it makes it possible to tell later whether a sheet has been added to or removed from the will. That is why its absence is taken seriously.

The substantial-compliance rule and its conditions

Article 809 softens the older, unforgiving approach, but it is not a general amnesty. It applies to defects and imperfections in the form of attestation or in the language used therein — how the clause is worded — and it operates only when four things are absent: bad faith, forgery, fraud, and undue and improper pressure and influence. If any of those is present, the rule gives no shelter at all. And even then the will must be proved to have been executed and attested in substantial compliance with Art. 805. The burden of showing that sits with whoever offers the will for probate.

Why a missing page count is a hard case

There is an important distinction between a defect that can be cured by examining the will itself and one that requires evidence from outside it. Where the number of pages is stated nowhere in the attestation clause, the question is whether the rest of the instrument supplies it — for instance an acknowledgment, or a correlative numbering of pages that makes the count unmistakable on the face of the document. If the count can only be established by calling witnesses to testify about what the will contained, the omission is generally fatal, because that is precisely the evidence the formality was designed to make unnecessary.

What to do with your mother's will

Bring the original document, not a photocopy, and read the whole of it before conceding anything. Check the acknowledgment page, the marginal signatures, and whether the sheets are numbered correlatively; the answer often turns on details nobody noticed. The rule is one of substance rather than a technicality either way — it will not rescue a will procured by pressure, and it will not condemn one whose page count is plain from the instrument. Because probate is decided on the document and the witnesses' testimony together, it is worth having the will assessed before an opposition is filed or withdrawn.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.