[WSBAPT] Half-Baked Will

[Karen E. Boxx]

And even without the survivorship clause, the doctrine of lapse requires a beneficiary to survive in order to take under a will, so he died intestate.

Karen


Professor Karen E. Boxx

University of Washington School of Law

Box 353020

Seattle, WA 98195-3020
206.616.3856
Sent from my iPad

On Dec 21, 2023, at 11:08 AM, Amy Goertz <amyjgoertz at icloud.com> wrote:


My take on it would be that since the spouse pre-deceased, the survival requirement of twenty days has not been met and thus it sounds like the decedent will be treated as intestate since there is no clause that address the issue of what happens if the spouse does not meet the survival requirement.

The estate passes to decedent’s intestate heirs, not the spouse’s estate.

Amy

Amy J. Goertz, J.D.
Goertz & Lambrecht PLLC
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Address for correspondence:
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On Dec 21, 2023, at 9:23 AM, <Jeff at bellanddavispllc.com> <Jeff at bellanddavispllc.com> wrote:

Listmates:

In front of me is a Will that I am told was prepared by a lawyer (unnamed).  It leaves everything to the spouse, who predeceased the testator.  No reference to what happens if spouse predeceases, although in the general terms it mentions that survivorship is twenty days and gives a general definition of right of representation.  Will is signed.  However the witness attestation provision is this:

We, the undersigned, certify that on this date the Testator, ____, signed the foregoing
Document as and for the Testator’s Last Will and Testament in our presence, and that we,
at the Testator’s request, in the Testator’s presence and in the presence of each other, have
signed our names hereto as subscribing witnesses.

Dated at ________, Washington, this ___ day of _______, 2023.

Nothing is notarized.  First question, I assume the entire estate goes to the predeceased spouses estate.  Am I wrong?  Second,  I believe I can fix the attestation clause by having the witnesses signing a new one that is more complete, provided I can find them in a very large city in Snohomish County.  We do new attestation clauses for lost Wills, is there anything wrong with fixing the old one?

Jeff Davis

W. Jeff Davis
BELL & DAVIS PLLC
Attorneys at Law
P.O. Box 510
720 E. Washington Street, Suite 105
Sequim WA 98382
Phone: (360) 683.1129
Fax: (360) 683.1258
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