Wills

Question 1

Requirements for validly executed will

Answer 1

1. Signed by T
2. 2 attesting witnesses
3. Reasonable time after witnessing
   
   • T signing will
   • T acknowledging earlier signature, or
   • T acknowledging will

Question 2

What is the UPC dispensing power statute?

Answer 2

Probate judge can excuse full compliance w/ formalities required for due execution if there is C&CE that T intended document to be her will

Question 3

When is informal probate proper?

Answer 3

Harmonious situations, when there is no likelihood of a will contest

Question 4

What notice is required after a court register admits a will to probate in an informal probate?

Answer 4

Proponent must give written notice within 28 days to heirs, beneficiaries, and other interested parties who filed demand for notice

Question 5

What notice is required for a formal testacy proceeding?

Answer 5

Proponent must give personal notice to interested parties and publication notice to unknown heirs

Question 6

What are the substitutes for live testimony from an attesting witness in a testacy proceeding?

Answer 6

Deposition, interrogatory, or self-proving affidavit

Question 7

What are the requirements for a self-proved will by unsworn written statement?

Answer 7

1. States, or incorporates by reference to attestation clause, facts regarding formalities observed
2. T and Ws sign and date statement

Question 8

What are the requirements for a self-proved will using affidavit?

Answer 8

1. Can be made at any time after signing
2. Sworn by T and Ws before notary public
3. Recites all elements of proof that W should testify to in probate court

Question 9

What is an attestation clause and what is its function?

Answer 9

It recites that the requirements for due execution have been fulfilled.

It’s not required, but it aids in probate b/c due execution can be proven with this rather than W testimony.

Question 10

What are the requirements for holographic will?

Answer 10

1. Material portions in T’s handwriting
2. Signed anywhere on the page
3. Dated
4. Evidencing present testamentary intent

Question 11

What are the two approaches to conditional language in a will? (i.e. “if I die on this trip, all to B”)

Answer 11

Some courts say that if the condition doesn’t transpire, then probate denied

Other courts have adopted the majority view, where this is merely a reflection of the motive or inducement for making the will, rather than a condition

Question 12

What is a S’s intestate share when survived by T’s descendants, at least one of whom is also S’s descendant?

Answer 12

$225K + 1/2

Question 13

What is S’s intestate share when survived by T’s descendant, woh is not her descendant?

Answer 13

$150K + 1/2

Question 14

What are the statutory rights of a surviving spouse?

Answer 14

1. Homestead allowance of $23,000
2. Exempt from personal property set-aside of property worth $15,000
3. Family allowance in the amount needed for maintenance and support (if more than $27K or more than 1 year, need court approval)

Question 15

What are the ways in which the paternity of a child born out of wedlock is established?

Answer 15

1. Marriage of father to mother after birth
2. Genetic test results
3. Acknowledgement via notarized writing recorded and executed by father and mother
4. Adjudication and order of filiation
5. Birth certificate correction requested by father and mother
6. Continuing parent-child relationship from before child was 18 to death of either

Question 16

When is a lifetime gift to an heir or will beneficiary considered an advancement or partial satisfaction of legacy?

Answer 16

1. Declared as such in contemporaneous writing by donor
2. Acknowledged as such in writing by donee
3. Will provides that legacies are to be reduced by such lifetime gifts

Question 17

What are the requirements for an heir or beneficiary to disclaim her interest?

Answer 17

1. Written and signed
2. Filed with probate court before accepting any benefit or exercising control of interest