After the decedent’s death, a thorough search of his home and law office failed to discover a will but did find a document labeled “Last Will and Testament,” typed on the decedent’s professional stationary and bearing the dated notation “Original mailed” to the nominated executor. The document was not signed. The New Jersey intermediate appellate court affirmed admission of the document to probate under the harmless error rule. The court concluded that the evidence, including the notation of the mailing of the original signed will, the decedent’s repeated statements in later years that he had a will which he wanted to change, and the “level of formality” of the document amounted to clear and convincing evidence that the decedent intended the document to be his will. A lengthy dissent argued that the statute cannot be reasonably construed to authorize admission to probate of an unexecuted will. In re Estate of Ehrlich, NO. A-5439-10T2, 2012 WL 2470122 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. June 29, 2012).
Special thanks to William LaPiana (Rita and Joseph Solomon Professor of Wills, Trusts, and Estates, New York Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.
