Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

If you have access to a copy of the letter left by your mother, examine it to see if the letter is in her handwriting, is signed by her and dated. If the letter meets those three criteria, it is a valid holographic will and the court will honor it. Why have you waited for 30 years to raise your question? Close to the time of death would have been the proper time to question the gift. After 30 years, witnesses have died or forgotten what happened. Last, the law presumes that if your mother created a will and was suffering from some mental ailment or deficiency, she created the will during a moment of clarity.

If I had to hazard a guess, I would estimate that you have little or no chance of prevailing 30 years after your mother's death in reclaiming her jewelry.

Your major problem is that having waited thirty years you are just acting way too late. Even if the letter was entirely hand written, it still might not show the attempt to make an amendment to the previous Will, so it might not modify the Will, but the Court would question why you have waited so long.