## Facts

- George Bitetzakis died in January 2017; his grandson, as nominated personal representative, petitioned to administer a September 26, 2013 document as George’s will.
- George, his wife (Ana), and two witnesses (Thomas Rivera and Pastor Santiago Alequin) met in the kitchen to execute the will.
- Rivera and Alequin signed as attesting witnesses at George’s request.
- George began signing on the will’s signature line but stopped when Ana told him to stop because she believed he needed to sign before a notary.
- As left after the kitchen meeting, the signature line reflected only George’s first name; Ana testified George normally signed using his full name.
- The next day, Ana took George to a notary; George did not bring the will but instead signed a separate “Affidavit of Subscribing Witnesses” intended as a self-proving affidavit.
- The self-proving affidavit was improperly completed, including language suggesting George witnessed his own will and lacking the subscribing witnesses’ signatures.
- After an evidentiary hearing, the probate court admitted the will to probate, relying on the partial signature and the notary visit as showing testamentary intent.

## Issues

1. Whether the document was “signed at the end” as required by Florida Statutes § 732.502 when the testator stopped mid-signature and left only his first name on the signature line.
2. Whether a later notary appearance and execution of a self-proving affidavit under § 732.503 can cure a failure to meet § 732.502’s execution formalities.

## Decision

- The Second District Court of Appeal reversed the order admitting the will to probate.
- The court held the will was not executed in strict compliance with § 732.502’s signature requirement and therefore was invalid.
- The court remanded for further proceedings consistent with treating the purported will as not admitted to probate.

## Legal Principles

- Florida Statutes § 732.502 requires strict compliance with will-execution formalities, including that the will be signed at the end by the testator (or by another at the testator’s direction and in the testator’s presence) and attested by two witnesses who sign in the required presence.
- A testator’s writing may qualify as a “mark” only if intended as the act of signing; an unfinished signature, stopped mid-act, does not satisfy the statutory “signed” requirement when the evidence shows the testator did not intend it as complete.
- A self-proving affidavit under § 732.503 supplements a properly executed will; it does not supply missing execution formalities or validate an improperly signed will.
- Testamentary intent, even if strongly shown, cannot replace compliance with the execution requirements imposed by § 732.502.

## Conclusion

The court invalidated a purported will where the testator abandoned the act of signing after writing only his first name, holding that later steps taken before a notary, including an improperly completed self-proving affidavit, could not substitute for strict compliance with Florida’s statutory signature requirement for wills.


Bitetzakis v. Bitetzakis, 264 So. 3d 297 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2019)