Art. 2885.Mystic Testament

A mystic testament, also called a secret testament, lets the testator keep the document's contents private even from the witnesses. The testator seals the testament inside an envelope, then delivers that sealed envelope to a notary in the presence of witnesses, declaring that it contains the testator's testament without anyone else reading a word of it. The notary records that delivery in what the law calls the act of superscription.

Because the witnesses never see the testament itself, Article 2885 asks them to confirm the envelope and the surrounding act instead. At least three of the witnesses present at the act of superscription have to testify that they recognize the sealed envelope now presented as the same one the testator delivered to the notary, declaring it to contain the testament, and that they recognize their own signatures and the notary's on the act of superscription, or the signature of whoever signed on behalf of a witness who could not.

Paragraph B lets the notary who received the sealed testament count as one of those three witnesses, since the notary was present throughout the act of superscription. Paragraph C, matching the rule for olographic and nuncupative testaments, allows a witness's testimony to be given by affidavit executed after the testator's death unless the court requires oral testimony, though not for testimony about genuineness when the testament is judicially attacked.