A Man Tries to Probate His Dad’s Will 25 Years Later, Do You Think It Worked?

If you are a regular follower of our probate blogs then you already know  that time is of the essence when it comes to probate. Still some people just do not believe us when we say you may have a matter of months to file a will contest in West Palm Beach! Check out this recent case where a son tried to probate his Dad’s will 25 years later!

Statutes of Limitations / Statutes of Repose

• Have you ever heard of a Statute of Limitations?
• What about a Statute of Repose?
• These are basically a judicial stopwatch. 
• They reign in the amount of time you have to file a claim.
• Failure to file within the time period proscribed may bar your claim.
• There are exceptions though.
• If the Court is led to believe that someone used fraud to keep you from filing within the time limits they may find the limits were tolled.
• It may depend though whether the statute is one of limitations and repose.
• Check out this recent case out of Utah to learn more.

In re Estate of Strand

• This was a case out of the Court of Appeals in Utah.
• A son filed a petition to probate his father’s will 25  years after the father passed away!
• The son claimed that his own brother had fraudulently concealed the will and as a result he never knew.
• He asked the Court to toll the statute of limitations period due to the fraud.
• Unfortunately for the man the Court did not find that the statute could be tolled even if there was fraud.
• Does that sound fair to you?
• The Court based a lot of its argument on the difference between a Statute of Limitations and a Statute of Repose.
• Does the difference really change his right to recovery?
• The Code had listed a variety of reasons why the period could be tolled but strangely fraud was just not on the list.

Want to learn more about this interesting case of 25 year old probate?

Check out the entire case by clicking here.