R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-7-26

Current through 2024 Public Law 457

Section 33-7-26 - Proof of purported will or codicil

In the absence of objection by anyone interested in the estate of a deceased person, the probate court may admit to probate a purported will or codicil of the deceased person upon oral testimony or affidavit in the following manner:

(1) The oral testimony of any one of the subscribing witnesses as to the due execution of any purported will or codicil shall constitute sufficient evidence thereof.

(2) An affidavit by the subscribing witnesses or any one or more of them, to any purported will or codicil, executed at any time after execution of the will or codicil, whether before or after the death of the testator, before any officer authorized to administer oaths in or out of this state, stating the facts as the witnesses or witness would be required to testify to in court to prove the will or codicil, shall constitute sufficient evidence of the due execution of the purported will or codicil.

(3) An affidavit substantially in the form that follows shall be deemed to meet the requirements of subdivision (2) of this section:

STATE OF

COUNTY OF

In . ......... on this ....... day of ......., 20 ....., before me personally appeared the undersigned, who, being duly sworn, depose and say that: they witnessed the execution of the will (codicil) of ........; that the signature to the will (codicil) is in the handwriting of the testator or was made by some other person for the testator, in the testator's presence and by the testator's express direction; that the testator so subscribed the will (codicil) and declared the same to be his last will (a codicil to his last will) in their presence; that they thereafter subscribed the same as witnesses in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other; that at the time of execution of the will (codicil) the testator appeared to be of sound mind and eighteen (18) years of age or over; and that the signatures of the witnesses on the will are genuine.

........................................

Subscribed and sworn to before me on the day and date first above written,

........................................

Notary public

R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-7-26

P.L. 1979, ch. 146, § 1; P.L. 1980, ch. 133, § 1.