 FACT: When the Hendrickson family makes out new wills to ensure that  the children will be raised by one of the sister wives if their  biological parents die, Barbara distributes the wills to Nikki and  Margene, and says, "Just sign yours, and Bill will put them in the  safe deposit box." Unless a will is in the individuals own  handwriting, all states have some requirement about the signature  being witnessed. The other wives, as beneficiaries under the will,  cannot serve as witnesses. Merely signing the wills without valid  witnesses would result in invalid wills. The family attorney also  should not have disclosed to Bill that the wives had been in to  change their wills. Instead once he realized that the four were not  in 100% agreement, the ethical rules of his bar association would  have required him to refer them to individual independent attorneys.