A Legal MinuteMissing & changed wills
How Courts Handle Copies of a Will
The short answer
When the original will cannot be located but there is a copy believed to be a true copy, the speaker's office would present the copy and ask the court to recognize it as the will. The clip describes the request, not whether the court will grant it.
From the full episode What Happens When A Will Is Missing (18:15).
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Transcript
That's where we would go in and basically ask the court to say that this copy is verified. We can't locate the original, but we have a copy we believe is a true copy. It would have the notary stamp on it. It would have the witnesses on it.
So, we could put that forward and basically just ask the court that they say, "Yes, this is the will, even though you can't find the original, this was done. So, obviously the original's somewhere, perchance, but you have a copy."
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