go for probate of will through the court of your jurisdiction
Proving genuinity of unregistered will
My grandfather wrote an unregistered will to divide his property between his sons , signed by 2 witnessess, 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(defendent) of my grandfather has challenged the genuiness of the will. 1.Is it sufficient to produce the witnesses for vouchsafing the genuiness of the will? 2.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
Asked 10 years ago in Civil Law
Ask a question and receive multiple answers in one hour.
Lawyers are available now to answer your questions.
7 Answers
1. Testimony of witnesses is very crucial as they are going to prove that the genuiness of will. If they testify to their signatures on the will the genuiness 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.
2. 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.
1) the testimony of witnesses in this case is cruicial . they have to depose that grand father signed will in their presence and that at grand father request they have appended their signature as witness es
2) you have not mentioned what are the grounds for challenge of will made by daughter in her affidavit .
3) if it is her case that signature is forged in addition examine hand writing expert.daughter will have to prove signature is forged . mere difference in signatures not sufficient to assail genuine ness of the will
1. The testomony of the witnesses is very important for establishing the genuineness of the Will and the signature of the testator,
2. The genuineness signatures of your gransfather can also be verified by approved handwriting experts,
3. So, variation in signatures of your grandfather will not be a difficult issue legally.
Thank you all for prompt response.In continuation of above, I would like to add few more points as mentioned by Ajay Sethi sir.Probate was filled by sons.But daughter has filed affidavit of objections on the basis that will was forged and fabricated since the signatures do not match on all the pages and vary.My grandfather was 94 yrs at time of filing the will.His signatures were shaky in few pages.
Asked 10 years ago
1. As I have already mentioned in my earlier post, the genuineness signatures of your gransfather can also be verified by approved handwriting experts,
2. Pray for examination of the signatures by approved handwriting experts.
1) you have to prove that your father has signed the will . in this regard you can rely upon your grand father signature in passport , PAN card etc to show signatures are identical .
2) further you can rely upon hand writing expert to prove your case
1. Since she has set up a case that signatures of your grand father have been forged she will have to prove forgery.
2. The signatures of your grand father in other documents such as PAN card and Passport can be shown as proof to court.