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Genuineness of an unregistered will.
01-May-2023 (In Wills / Trusts Law)
My grandfather wrote an unregistered will to divide his property between his sons , signed by 2 witnesses, 2 years before his death. He was 94 years at the time of writing the will.Due to his old age there are differences in signature in all pages of will. There is similarity in signature between few pages and dissimilarity between others. The witnesses are alive, ready to testify. While filing for probate, the daughter(defendant) of my grandfather has challenged the genuineness of the will.
Is it sufficient to produce the witnesses for vouchsafing the genuineness of the will? Due to old age my grandfather was struggling to write and with great difficulty signed the will. His signature of documents years back may not tally with will signature. In this case please advice on what steps to take to prove the genuiness of the will.
Is it sufficient to produce the witnesses for vouchsafing the genuineness of the will? Due to old age my grandfather was struggling to write and with great difficulty signed the will. His signature of documents years back may not tally with will signature. In this case please advice on what steps to take to prove the genuiness of the will.
Testimony of witnesses is very crucial as they are going to prove that the genuineness of will. If they testify to their signatures on the will the genuineness thereof may well be upheld notwithstanding the challenge laid thereto by the daughter.The daughter is within her right to challenge the will in a proceeding for probate.
However, a mere challenge will not suffice to the will being held forged unless and until she produces all the relevant evidence which can prove to hilt her allegation that will is not genuine. Mere difference in the signatures on successive pages of will is not by itself a ground for invalidating the will unless it is shown that signatures have been forged. The necessary steps will be taken by your lawyer subject to the scope of challenge by the daughter and the issues to be proved.
However, a mere challenge will not suffice to the will being held forged unless and until she produces all the relevant evidence which can prove to hilt her allegation that will is not genuine. Mere difference in the signatures on successive pages of will is not by itself a ground for invalidating the will unless it is shown that signatures have been forged. The necessary steps will be taken by your lawyer subject to the scope of challenge by the daughter and the issues to be proved.
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Adv. Siddhant Sharma
Delhi | 200+ Answers
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