Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

My wife, who is not a very good English speaker, received a subpoena to testify as a witness for the plaintiff in a will probate case.

Six years ago, my wife was befriended by a female neighbor (defendant) and eventually asked to sign a document which she believed had something to do with giving the neighbor some legal rights to take care of her aging aunt.

Once my wife received the subpoena few weeks ago, she tried to contact the neighbor by phone for two days in a row to find out what this was all about. She left two messages, but the neighbor never called back.

During the recent deposition, my wife learned that the document she signed was a will of her neighbor�s aunt.

At the signing, the document was never read to my wife nor did anyone explain to her what it was exactly that she was signing. All pages except the signature page were placed text down.

The signature page was shown to my wife during the deposition and it displayed the following content:

The foregoing instrument of five (5) pages, including this page, was at the date hereof, by signed as and declared to be the Will of same, in the presence of us, who upon request and in presence of same, and in the presence of each other, have subscribed our names as witnesses thereto.

Each of us observed the signing of the Will by and by each other subscribing witness and knows that each signature is the true signature of the person whose name was signed. Each of us is now more than 21 years of age and competent witness and resides at the address set forth

We are acquainted with . At this time, is over the age of 18 years, and to the best of our knowledge is of sound mind and is not acting under duress, menace, fraud, misrepresentation, or undue influence.

We declare under the penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed on this 30 day of July, 2008, at , California

Three witness signatures and addresses follow>

Page 5 of 5

My wife claims that she remembers is just the signature lines and her placing the signature on one of them. She doesn�t remember reading or understanding anything else on that page.

During the deposition, my wife stated several facts, which negate some statements present in the text above the signatures:

1. That she never saw the aunt at the signing or at any time prior to the signing

2. That she only knows about the aunt from neighbor�s stories about helping her due to advanced age.

3. That the signing took place in the city where we live and not where the text above the signatures has it.

4. That there was only one more witness present (out of the three whose signatures were displayed on the page including my wife)

I am guessing that my wife is probably not a reliable witness of the signing of the aunt�s will. I wonder if she has anything to worry about from the legal standpoint due to the content above the signatures.

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Probate, Trusts, Wills & Estates questions and answers in California

Looking for something else?