Witnessed a Will and now regret it

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dogged

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A co worker asked me to witness the will of an elderly woman who was a family friend of his and his wife. His wife has had power of Attorney for years and has had a joint checking account with the woman. He asked me and another person to sign that the signature of the woman was indeed her signature. Since she was very frail of health we signed that the signature on the will and the one on the woman's NYS I.D. card was the same. It was her signature but we had never even met the woman.

He did this all on LegalZoom.com. Frankly I had no real understanding of what I was getting into. The will is in Surrogate Court and a lawyer (she says she's an officer of the Court so I assume she is a lawyer.) has been trying to get s hold of me to answer questions. I have no wish to be involved in any of this and I'd like to "recant", if you will, my signature and state that I was not properly informed of all the eventualities.

I need an answer ASAP...like now as there is going to be meeting of the involved legal folks tomorrow, Wed.

Need some help. Oh and the lawyer tracked me down at work and is going to call me in about an hour.
 
DOGGED...

First and foremost, you cannot "recant" your signature as the witness and your reasoning that you did not have enough information about the will and did not know what you were doing is not going to carry much water because after all, all you did was witness somebody's signature and were not involved in drafting the said will.

You are making way too much of what is really a non-issue; well, at least for you it is a non issue, and you are neither going to be on the hook for anything nor be responsible for anything as the result of the adjudication (or probate) of the will. If that was the case, then 90% of the Notary Public membership would tear up their licenses and crush the seals and would spend half of their lives in court. I believe what you are being asked to do is be a witness for the defendants or respondents against whoever has brought suit or is contesting the will, to testify in court and the court under oath the events surrounding the signing of the will, and that is it. And you will be out of there in not time and going about your normal life.

You can of course avoid the attorney's attempts to get in touch with you, but you should keep in mind that what is now a friendly phone call from an attorney will surely turn into a subpoena which you cannot then ignore you will really have trouble for contempt of court. You should also keep in mind just how important your role was in the drafting and the execution of that will, therefore, whether you agree with it or not, or regret it in hindsight or not, somebody needs you to attests to the fact that the will was signed and you witnessed it.

Just contact the attorney and get it over and done with. You will be glad you did!

fredrikklaw
 
He did this all on LegalZoom.com. Frankly I had no real understanding of what I was getting into. The will is in Surrogate Court and a lawyer (she says she's an officer of the Court so I assume she is a lawyer.) has been trying to get s hold of me to answer questions. I have no wish to be involved in any of this and I'd like to "recant", if you will, my signature and state that I was not properly informed of all the eventualities.

I need an answer ASAP...like now as there is going to be meeting of the involved legal folks tomorrow, Wed.

Need some help. Oh and the lawyer tracked me down at work and is going to call me in about an hour.


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Dogged, hello.
As FL said, this is nothing to worry, stress, or fear.
Your state, NY, requires very little from a witness to a will.
In fact, all you know is that Billy Blue signed his last will and testament in your presence.



You aren't required to be an expert anything when you testify, but you'll be quizzed as the mythical reasonable person.
Was Billy Blue present?
Did you observe Billy Blue take pen to paper and scribble his name?
Did it appear that Billy Blue was being coerced?
Was Billy Blue alert and in the present?
Etc, etc, etc...




Okay, this is why such questions are asked.

Except as otherwise provided in this statute, at a minimum of two of the attesting witnesses must be produced before the court and examined before a written will is admitted to probate.

If so many of the witnesses are within the state and competent and able to testify.

Where the will offered for probate is on file in a court or public office under the laws of which jurisdiction, the will cannot be removed, the court may issue a commission to a person authorized to take a commission under CPLR 3113 or to an attorney and counsellor-at-law of the state or of the jurisdiction in which the commission is to be taken, to take the testimony and may admit the will to probate upon proof of its provisions, of its existence at the time of the death of the testator and of its due execution.

Where the will offered for probate is brought to the surrogate's court by a representative of a public office of another jurisdiction, the court may take proof of the will and permit the representative to return the will to such other jurisdiction. The decree admitting the will to probate shall set forth the full text of the will. The proof so taken and the decree admitting the will to probate shall have the same force and effect as though the will had been filed or had remained in the court. -



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See more at: http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/SCP/14/1404#sthash.UaTnVtSY.dpuf

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