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Court Determines Authenticity of Will

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Testator in his lifetime had written a will and testament. Upon his death, nine loved ones who he intended to divide his assets to them outlived him. In the instrument, he named his wife and eight children as heirs of his bounty. The instrument was brought to court for litigation. Estate litigation lawyers represented all parties. It was the surviving spouse who brought the will to court for probate proceeding. Attorneys acting in lieu of decedents children questioned the contested will. They alleged failure of the wife to prove due execution and genuineness of the will. The contents of the instrument displayed fraud, intentional representation of material existing fact, and an outside pressure was used which negate the free will of the testator so that the maker of the will lack the necessary mental capacity in making said instrument valid.
Witnesses to the will in favor of the children testified, that in their control were duplicates of the will and testament. The said instrument was attested in the presence of eligible witnesses and their estate lawyers. They testified that the instrument under which they safe kept was an identical copy of the original will made by the decedent. The instrument then was submitted for examination and was granted by the probate court.

New York Probate Lawyer said the eight children of the decedent, represented by their estate lawyers then filed a motion for summary judgment before the estate administration courts wherein they seek an order denying probate of the supposed last will and testaments submitted by the wife. In support of the motion, affirmations from other witnesses were also forwarded to estate litigation courts such as additional memorandum of law and reply memorandum.

In opposition to the motion for summary judgment, the surviving wife of the decedent had filed affidavits, and brought to estate litigation courts a forensic document examiner to prove that she submitted an authentic will. Her lawyers firmly believed that the submitted motion was improper because there was no question of fact that required resolution by courts. Brooklyn Probate Lawyers said they attested that to succeed on a motion for summary judgment, the decedent’s children had to make the complaint legitimate. The issue had to show an entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, tendering sufficient evidence to demonstrate the absence of any material issues of fact. If the matter was admissible in form and sufficient in substance to establish the existence of a material issues of fact then a trail of action will proceed.

Decedent’s wife had the burden of proof to display in court due execution of the last will and testament of her husband. According to a provision of law, at least two of the attesting witnesses must be produced before the courts examine the written will admitted to probate.
The self-proving affidavit of witnesses for the wife did not recite all the elements necessary to establish due execution.

All the witnesses for the children testified that the assumed will presented by the wife were in a font not used in their law office, that the font did not match the attestation, and that the documents submitted for probate were not the will prepared and executed by the testator in their law firm. They also affirmed that the contested will was not the document they witnessed and attested. The witnesses of the decedent’s children certified that the document submitted for probate were not the document they prepared and witnessed to be the true will and testament of the testator.

The court noted that the attestation clause contained not the true intentions and writings of the testator. Bronx Probate Lawyers said the estate administration courts found out that the lawyers for the decedent’s children had properly convinced them that there was prima facie burden to believe, so that as a matter of law they were entitled to judgment denying probate.

The wife of the testator was not able to convince the court on the authenticity of a will assumed to be prepared and written by her husband.

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