Tennessee Court Invalidates Will When Witnesses Do Not Sign Whole Document

Wills are a technicality ridden document, with various signatures and notary blocks that must all be executed properly. Often clients of a probate attorney are very diligent in reading what they sign but often they just assume that the witnesses will sign their parts properly. This is a fatal mistake as a recent case decided in February of this year shows. The lesson is simple, if one of your witnesses messes up its your inheritance that’s at stake – measure twice, cut once. In order to be valid in Florida a will needs two witnesses and a notary signature at the same time as the testator.  Tennessee has similar requirements. This recent case highlights the headache caused by not following these requirements:

• In Re Estate of Bill Morris is a will contest that questioned whether Mr. Morris’ estate was in line with the Tennessee statute governing validation of wills.
• Morris died leaving four children (one pre-deceased with four children of her own) and he disinherited three of these children, one of which challenged the will as invalid.
• The basis for the argument was that the witnesses for the will had signed an affidavit but not the actual will itself.
• The Court held that the will was invalid because the witnesses to the will only signed “attesting affidavits” and as a matter of law and that the Testator Mr. Morris died intestate.
• Attesting affidavits are just documents stating that the witnesses understand what they are witnessing and the duties they will have upon probate proceedings.

There is a lot a probate attorney can take away from this case:

1. The Court noted that the fact that their was an estate attorney hurt the case for the will being valid as the technical meanings of the documents were held valid, absent this maybe the Court would have held it was good enough, but I doubt it.
2. Relatives who are disinherited can often bite back and will look for every avenue possible to invalidate a will. If someone wants to disinherit a majority of their heirsthey should probably make sure that they execute the document in accordance with the law.
3. Little mistakes can have big consequences. No one here alleged that the will was not the intent of the testator to the contrary the disinherited kids seem content that it was, rather they are going after the technicalities. These small technicalities can have big effects as seen here, the inheritance was likely reduced not only by the addition of heirs but also the expensive process of probate litigation.

Want to learn more about wills, trusts and estates? Check out our FAQ video library at: http://www.pankauskilawfirm.com/