How to probate a will that is not self proved
Attorney Tom Olsen: At the Olsen Law, we're all about helping people to avoid probate, but the fact of the matter is there's a lot of people who pass away without coming to see us first, and therefore probate is going to be required. Alexis, often they'll bring us a will, and if the will is self-proved, your job can be much easier. If a will is not self-proved, that can be much harder, but let's just tell the listeners what a self-proved will is.
Attorney Alexis Merrill: A self-proved will is typically the last page or the last part of the will, where you're basically attesting that the witnesses are there. The point is, you don't have to locate them and get testimony from them that that was their signature.
Attorney Olsen: If your will is self-proved, and any will that we do for clients are going to be self-proved, meaning it's got the magic language on it, it has a notary and additional two witnesses, if it's self-proved, then you pass away, we do not have to go locate one of the witness and have them come before the probate judge and swear that that's their signature. If we're going to do a probate for somebody, and they did a homemade will and it's not self-proved, just got a couple of witnesses, then what do you need to do?
Attorney Merrill: Then we need to locate those witnesses and send those witnesses to the court and have them attest that that was their signature.
Attorney Olsen: That can be a real problem if we can't find the witnesses, or if they're deceased, or if they're living in another state.
Attorney Merrill: It can be a very big headache.
Attorney Olsen: I've never told you before, but I needed to prove a will one time because the will was not self-proved. Our witness, who was living in, I don't know, say it was Iowa. It's another state. Rather than come before the Orange County probate judge, it's where that that's their signature as a witness to the will, we had to arrange for them to do it through a probate judge in Iowa. It was a big, big deal just to get the will admitted to the probate because it was not self-proved.
Attorney Merrill: It can be a huge headache. That's one of the first things I look for when someone brings a will. Then we need to do a probate. I'm always looking to see if there is a self-proof on that will.
Attorney Olsen: Then, of course, how many times over the years have people handed me a will and said, "Well, here's mom's will." I look at it. It's not an original, it's a copy. I go, "This is a copy of your mom's will." "Really? That's a copy?" "Yes, look at it. You can tell." When we sign real documents here at the Olsen Law Group, we always use blue ink-
Attorney Merrill: Always.
Attorney Olsen: -so it's very easy to tell what's original and what copy is. They'll go, "Oh, I thought that was her original." Well, I go, "You need to go home and try and find her original will," because sometimes we just can't find the original will, and then we got to-
Attorney Merrill: Try to make a copy.
Attorney Olsen: -have a copy of the will admitted to the probate, and that's a big pain.
Attorney Merrill: It is a big pain, too. A lot of older wills are signed in black ink, so it's harder to tell, but a lot of newer ones, they are signed in black and blue ink, so you can tell like, "Okay, this isn't original."
Attorney Olsen: Well, let me go way, way, way back in the day because I've been a lawyer in Orange County for 40 years. Way, way back in the day, I used to walk up to the probate clerks and literally hand them our probate pleadings, hand the original will, hand file the documents, wait there for them to stamp them and hand them back to us. We'll talk some more about that when we come to the other side of the break. Hey, folks, my name is Tom Olsen. The name of the show is Olsen on Law.
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