doctrine of incorporation by reference

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The doctrine of incorporation by reference, under the law of wills, means that unattested papers (papers not present when the will was executed) can still be regarded as part of the will by incorporation. A writing that is not valid as a will but is in existence when a will is executed may be incorporated by reference into the will if the will manifests an intent to incorporate the writing and the writing to be incorporated is identified with reasonable certainty. 

In Advanced Display Sys. v. Kent State Univ., 212 F.3d 1272, the Fifth Circuit held that “incorporation by reference provides a method for integrating material from various documents into a host document by citing such material in a manner that makes clear that the material is effectively part of the host document as if it were explicitly contained therein…to incorporate material by reference, the host document must identify with detailed particularity what specific material it incorporates and clearly indicate where that material is found in the various documents.”

See: Uniform Probate Code 

[Last updated in September of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]