Cheap Ass Gamer - View Single Post - Question about a WILL{Long Read} any feedback would be appreciated

Clak · 10-10-2012, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KCS13

I'm in law school right now in PA and in Estates and Trusts. It's my understanding that PA is one of the loosest states in regards to interpreting wills. A will does not even need to be witnessed by anyone if signed by the testator, though it is typical procedure to do so. Changes to a will need not be witnessed either, however; the will must be re-executed (signing by the changes suffices, iirc) if there is a cancellation and then a subsequent addition. Specifically, the case of In re: Crist's Estate was mentioned in class (and is what I referenced earlier), where the decedent struckthrough certain provisions and even added some writing (in one section a legacy of $4000 was made and decedent wrote above the "$4000" $1000 and the court determined that it was meant to be an additional $1000 to the $4000 legacy).

On a side note, our professor told us a story that somewhere in PA a desk was probated because a person etched their last will and testament into it and signed at the bottom LOL

So what would stop , say someone's kids, from changing a parent's will after they've died? How would you prove it had been changed by someone other than the now dead parent? That seems like it would leave things open to all sorts of shady practices.

Although the idea of inscribing my will on giant granite tablet is rather interesting...lol.