In its opinion in Schilling v. Schilling, 695 S.E.2d 181 (Va. 2010), the Virginia Supreme Court reiterated the usual rule that validity of a will is governed by the statutes in effect when a testator dies. The court therefore reversed the trial court’s grant of contestants’ demurrer and remanded to allow the proponent the opportunity to establish by clear and convincing evidence the decedent’s intent that the document offered is the decedent’s will under the Virginia version of the “harmless error rule” effective July 1, 2007 which was after the decedent wrote the document but before the decedent’s death.
