The article analyses the legal aspects of the development of testate succession in Ukraine. In particular, it focuses on the notion of the will, the capacity of its making, special types of wills and their form. The content of wills is being viewed through the principal of testamentary freedom. The article offers the solution of such controversial issues of Ukrainian succession law as the legal nature and content of joint wills, the consequences of the death of one of the spouses, as well as the nullity or dissolution of marriage for joint wills, the requirements to the conditions in conditional wills. It critically examines the order of recording of wills. The article reveals the legal nature of the relationships caused by the legacy. It compares the legacy with other special testamentary dispositions. The article compares certain solutions of Ukrainian succession law with the legal rules of some other countries.