Johnson v. Johnson

After attorney Dexter Johnson died, a document was offered for probate consisting of three unsigned, undated, unattested typewritten paragraphs followed by dated, signed handwritten sentences, one stating the document "shall be complete unless hereafter altered, changed or rewritten." The county court denied probate, and on de novo review, witnesses testified Johnson had described the typewritten portion as his will and had once asked a witness to sign it, though execution never occurred; Johnson later said he'd revised his will via codicil. Proponents argued the handwritten portion was a valid holographic codicil republishing the typewritten will; objectors argued the whole document was just one unexecuted, unattested will.