A Legal MinuteMissing & changed wills
Why Courts Don’t Rely on Memory Alone
The short answer
The speaker calls this more of an attorney question; her general impression from other cases is that testimony, from lay witnesses or even an attorney, hasn't carried much weight. As she describes the court's view, without a signed document there's no way to verify the will's terms, so it errs on the side of caution.
From the full episode What Happens When A Will Is Missing (18:15).
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Transcript
Unfortunately, that is more of an attorney question. However, I will kind of give you the general consensus of what I've seen happen in other cases where we're relying on testimony from lay witness people, or even an attorney: there is not a lot of weight put into it.
The court's idea is, if I don't have a signed document, I am not entertaining this, because unfortunately, there's been a lot of issues in probate court with people coming out of the woodwork and saying, "No, I for sure saw this." And they didn't. There's just no way to verify the information.
And so, the court very much errs on the side of caution and says, "You know what? I'm really sorry for everybody. I'm sorry that everybody saw this will. I don't even have a copy of it. I have nothing."
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