Skip to main content
search

Will Execution Ceremony

The will execution ceremony is the procedure by which a testator makes known how he wants his property to be handled after his death through his will.  The execution ceremony has formal requirements such as the signature, attestation and writing requirements.  The will is valid only if these formalities are met.

 

"[P]etitioner was the only person present when decedent allegedly imparted his desires concerning the disposition of his estate, and she arranged the will execution ceremony and procured the presence of the three witnesses - one of whom was her ex-husband who still resided with her and another of whom was the husband of decedent's other sister.  Furthermore, although an attorney was minimally involved in the process, that attorney was procured by petitioner . . . and decedent received no independent advice concerning the execution of his will and the disposition of his estate."

"We . . . find that the circumstances attending decedent's execution of his will, including the questions regarding his competency, merit the careful scrutiny that can only be obtained by a full airing of the matter before a trier of fact."