I am not an attorney but I did retype my moms will and have her sign with witnesses at her bank.
Should I take the new will to her attorney. Her layer wanted $500.00 to make revisions. It was cost effective for me to type it up and took me just 30 minutes to type it. .
I am the major beneficiary and I want to be sure it would hold up. It is signed, dated, with a notary and witness that saw her sign it. At present the will is in my mother's draw with her important papers.

If I change my will do I need an attorney to hold it? ...

No. Why do you suppose that would be necessary? It isn't. But just be sure you can find it when she dies.

It's in her drawer?


... Must the old be distroyed?

Again, no. Where did you get these ideas?

You put her new will in a safe place (such as your bank safe and not a drawer) that you can access one she is gone.

You may destroy the old one if you like as it is now null and void. It would cause less problems if this was not around.

There have been instances where the copy of the will was inadvertently put in the attorney's safe and the oriiginal given to the client which caused a huge problem. This happened once at a lawyer's office I worked at. No, I didn't do this either but I had to deal with the ramifications of just having the copy and not the original.

You put her new will in a safe place (such as your bank safe ...

Do not have her put it in a safe deposit box. That can present problems. The bank will say "sorry, but we can't allow anyone to access the safe deposit box unless they can prove they are the court-recognized executor. Can't be court recognized executor unless you have the (original) will. So that would present a quandary (if you are named as executor in the will).

Actually I see no problem with leaving it in the drawer, unless there is a substantial chance of someone stealing it from there.