In re the Probate of the Last Will & Testament of Gamber

Majority

p. 168

Matter of the Probate of the Last Will and Testament of Justina Gamber, Deceased.

(Surrogate’s Court, King County,

February, 1907.)

Headnote

Wills — The testamentary instrument or act — Execution of will — Evidence of execution — Publication and request.

Where a statement was made by the testatrix that the paper she was about to sign was intended to be her will and a request was addressed by her to the witnesses to sign as such, before she actual h affixed her signature; but, as part of the same transaction, she immediately signed her name and passed the paper over to the witnesses who then signed their names, a sufficient declaration and request of the testatrix appears.

Proceeding upon the probate of a will.

Kramer, Cohn & Burby, for proponent.

James C. Oropsey, for contestant.

It appears here that the statement of the ileceased that the paper offered for probate was intended in be her las* will and testament and her request to the witnesses to sign it as such were made before she signed the instrument; and that, upon the witnesses assenting to her request, and without further conversation on the subject, she signed the paper and passed it over to them for their signature as witnesses. Prom all the circumstances in the case it is apparent that the matter was practically completed at one transaction and that, even if there was not a specific declaration by the deceased that this was her will after she had signed it, yet, coupled with her previous remarks, the fact that she signed it in the presence of the witnesses and passed the paper over to them for their signature amounted, in effect, to a request to them to sign as witnesses her last will and testament. I feel constrained, therefore, to admit the will to probate.

Let findings and decree be prepared accordingly.

Decreed accordingly.