Short answer. Having drafted the will is not itself a disqualification — the Code's list of who cannot witness a will does not mention the drafter. The real exposure is different: if the witness or his spouse, parent or child is given something by that will, the gift is void unless three other competent witnesses signed.
What the law says
The following are disqualified from being witnesses to a will: (1) Any person not domiciled in the Philippines; (2) Those who have been convicted of falsification of a document, perjury or false testimony.
Civil Code, Article 821 — Who Cannot Be a Witness. Read the full provision →
What the law says
such devise or legacy shall, so far only as concerns such person, or spouse, or parent, or child of such person, or any one claiming under such person or spouse, or parent, or child, be void, unless there are three other competent witnesses to such will
Civil Code, Article 823 — A Gift to a Witness Is Void. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Every will must be acknowledged before a notary public by the testator and the witnesses.
Civil Code, Article 806 — Acknowledgment Before a Notary. Read the full provision →
The disqualifications are short and specific
Article 821 sets them out in full: The following are disqualified from being witnesses to a will: (1) Any person not domiciled in the Philippines; (2) Those who have been convicted of falsification of a document, perjury or false testimony. Drafting the instrument is not on that list, and neither is being the family's long-standing counsel. The two grounds that are there share a theme — the witness must be available to the courts here, and must not carry a conviction for the offences that go to the truthfulness of documents and testimony. Article 822 adds that a witness competent when he attested does not defeat the will by becoming incompetent later.
The provision that actually bites
Article 823 deals with the witness who is also a beneficiary. Where a devise or legacy is given to the attesting witness, or to his spouse, parent or child, such devise or legacy shall, so far only as concerns such person, or spouse, or parent, or child of such person, or any one claiming under such person or spouse, or parent, or child, be void, unless there are three other competent witnesses to such will. Note how surgical it is. The will survives; only that gift falls, and only as against those people. He is still admitted as a witness, as if the gift had never been made, so the attestation itself is not spoiled.
Counting the witnesses
Article 805 requires a will other than a holographic one to be attested and subscribed by three or more credible witnesses in the presence of the testator and of one another. That is why Article 823 speaks of three others: a fourth witness who receives a gift costs the estate nothing if three unimpeachable ones remain. Article 824 confirms that a creditor of the testator is competent, a mere charge on the estate for debts due at death being no obstacle. The Code worries about people with an interest in the dispositions, and about people whose word cannot be tested here.
The question to put separately
One issue sits outside Article 821 and should not be assumed either way from it. Article 806 requires that Every will must be acknowledged before a notary public by the testator and the witnesses. Where the same lawyer would both witness the will and take that acknowledgment, he would be acknowledging in part his own act, and whether that is permissible is a distinct question this page does not answer — put it to counsel before the signing, not after. The cautious arrangement costs nothing: let the drafter draft, use three disinterested witnesses, and have a different notary.
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 821 — Who Cannot Be a Witness
- Civil Code, Article 822 — Later Incompetency Does Not Matter
- Civil Code, Article 823 — A Gift to a Witness Is Void
- Civil Code, Article 824 — Creditors as Witnesses
- Civil Code, Article 805 — Formalities of a Notarial Will
- Civil Code, Article 806 — Acknowledgment Before a Notary