Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida
Is this a valid will?
We have a notarized, self-poven will with 3 witnesses.The will was made 9 years ago. We have found out that the notary is deceased (the seal has all of his commision info and we verified that with the state) and we do not know the witnesses. A family member has said they will contest the will as a forgery.
I thought the purpose of having a will notarized, was to prevent this sort of problem.
Do we need to find the witnesses? Can he contest a notarized will?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Is this a valid will?
The purpose of the notarization (self-proving clause) is to avoid the formality of having a witness go to court to sign an Oath Of Witness before a will can be admitted to probate. A notarized (self-proved) will can still be contested. It is up to the contesting party to show evidence of forgery, undue influence, incompetence, or such. If he/she produces such evidence, it is up to the proponent of the will to counter with evidence supporting the validity of the will. In such a case, if the witnesses are available, they could testify as to their knowledge of the competence, etc., of the maker at the time he/she signed the will, and in case forgery is alleged, whether they actually witnessed the will.
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