Court Opinion

ID: 9624473
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:03:57.504017+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:47.399238
License: Public Domain

ELLETT, Chief Justice
(dissenting):
It would seem that a jury could infer that the decedent had a will three days before his death. It does not take three days for a man to change his mind or to destroy his will.
When it is shown that a man made a will which he kept in his possession, or which he had access to, and it cannot be found at or after his death, there arises a presumption that during his lifetime he destroyed it.1
The statute2 in force and effect at the time of the death of the testator and at the time of the petition to probate the lost will read:
No will shall be proved as a lost or destroyed will, unless the same is proved to have been in existence at the time of the death of the testator, or is shown to have been fraudulently destroyed in the lifetime of the testator, nor unless its provisions are clearly and distinctly proved by at least two credible witnesses.
There was no proof in this case that the will was fraudulently destroyed during the lifetime of the testator.
It seems clear to me that the trial court ruled correctly in holding that there could be no probate of the non-existent will. I would affirm its ruling and award costs to the respondent..

. In re Frandsen’s Will, 50 Utah 156, 167 P. 362 (1917).

. U.C.A., 1953, 75-3-26.