Court Opinion

ID: 9545453
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:12:50.291744+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:14:49.919102
License: Public Domain

CONTRERAS, Judge,
specially concurring:
I find myself compelled to concur in this decision because established legal principles clearly indicate that the trial court did not err in refusing to admit the document to probate. Nonetheless, I feel similarly compelled to tender the observation that the intended simplification of our statutes regarding holographic wills has perhaps created more problems than it has solved.
The most basic purpose of the Uniform Probate Code is to “discover and make effective the intent of a decedent in distribution of his property.” U.P.C. § l-102(b)(2). With respect to the execution of wills, the purpose of the Code is to simplify the requirements of execution and validate the will whenever possible. The general comment to the Uniform Probate Code Part 5 relating to wills provides in part:
If the will is to be restored to its role as the major instrument for disposition of wealth at death, its execution must be kept simple. The basic intent of these sections is to validate the will whenever possible.
*312The result in this case is contrary to all of these expressed purposes. The document before us is clearly denominated as “THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT” and the first paragraph in which the decedent, in his own handwriting, placed his name and residence in the appropriate blanks, clearly and unequivocally establishes testamentary intent. However, when the printed portion of the first paragraph is excised, testamentary intent is not established and the document fails as a valid will. Based upon case law and the official comment relating to the holographic will section of the probate code, this is the legal result which must obtain. But it is an illogical result which defeats the intent of the decedent and fails to uphold the proferred will. In addition, it ignores the practical consideration of a lay person who desires to dispose of his small estate without the assistance of an attorney. Such a person would consider a form will to be a viable alternative to seeking the services of an attorney, but unless that document is witnessed, it will fail to dispose of the decedent’s estate as he desired. See A.R.S. § 14-2502. And since the material provisions are not in the testator’s handwriting, the document fails to meet the requirements as set forth in A.R.S. § 14-2503 in order to serve as a valid holographic will.
The result in this case defeats the purposes of effectuating the intent of the decedent and simplifying the execution of wills and, in my opinion, justifies a reappraisal of the statutorily expressed requirements of a holographic will in light of realistic and practical considerations.