A postal worker had written and signed his will and testament. Two competent witnesses attested the document. He named his niece by marriage the only heir of his estate. The will was brought to an estate litigation court for probate.
One of his relatives by blood objected the will on reasons that the will was done without comprehending what the meaning of his words in the will was. In denoting his niece by mother, he was without any distinction of the exact piece of possession to be transferred to her.
The Estate Administration courts nominated his wife’s niece as the person who will receive his properties subject of the will.
A New York Probate Lawyer said that the court appointee who wanted to protect an unknown ward opposed the court’s action and asked the court to withdraw its decision. He further questioned the nomination of the wife’s niece. He claimed that testator have not acted full employment of his faculties when he named his wife’s niece his only heir where in fact no blood relationship bind them. His estranged use of legal terms such as heirs, legatees and distribute showed personality changed showing lucid intervals which stopped him of writing the will. The appointee asked for summary judgment on reasons that the decedent lacked testamentary capacity on the basis that he demonstrated a deficient grasp of his entire bounty when he assigned his estate to a person not his biological children.
However, the truth was established that indeed his misused legal words to identify family relationship did not constitute a deficiency of his ability to understand the general meaning of the contested will. The period of familiarity involved deepens the relationship and devotion to each other. There were the presence of reciprocal admiration of love, care, and comfort between the decedent and his wife’s niece. The decedent’s intention was to provide them mutual affection even though they were not his real children.
The named heir, their witnesses and with the help of estate administration lawyers proved their cause and refused to admit the allegations as true against the decedent. Nassau County Probate Lawyers said that even if it was specified that decedent was affected by old age, physical infirmity, and progressive deterioration of intellectual faculties such as memory, concentration, and judgment resulting from an organic disease or a disorder of the brain did not make it possible to found out that the decedent was emotionally disturbed.
The estate administration courts established that all the relevant times, and those shared by the witnesses including the time when the will was executed, the decedent possessed the capacity required to make a will. Estate litigation court firmly believed that the testator was of sound mind and memory when he executed the will. The probate court transcript was devoid of any proof that at the date of the execution of the propounded instrument, decedent was incapable of handling his own affairs or lacked the requisite capacity to make a will.
The motion for summary judgment dismissing the objection based upon a lack of testamentary capacity was granted by the probate court.
Another issue raised by the court appointee against the decedent was the authenticity of his will in litigation for it is seemingly different from prescribed legal procedure when he wrote his signature on the contested will on mistake. Due execution required that the proposed will be signed, a signature to be affixed on the will in the presence of the attesting witnesses, and the testator should make a public announcement on the presence of witnesses that he indeed executed his own will. The open gesture of the testator supported his willingness to follow a prescribed course of action of state regulated customs and rules. It was supported by affidavit that the will was executed in compliance with statutory formalities.
No factual basis had been offered for questioned due execution of the will, the estate lawyer’s supervision of decedent’s will sign ceremony created a presumption that the decedent properly executed his last will and testament.
Queens Probate Lawyers said that an attempt to remove a designated legatee on the issue of Lack of testamentary Capacity of a decedent and Undue execution of a will may disregard the true intention of the testator and harm a rightful heir.
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