## Facts

- Eric Anthony Hand died on September 7, 2014, survived by his wife, Natalie Hand, and four minor children from a prior marriage.
- After Eric’s death, Natalie searched for a will and found a three-page, three-paragraph handwritten letter dated January 23, 2014 in a box of love letters Eric had written to her.
- The first two paragraphs of the letter expressed Eric’s love for Natalie in a tone consistent with his other romantic letters.
- In the third paragraph, Eric wrote: “As my last will and testament, I appoint you the primary beneficiary of all I have and all I have worked for,” and he signed the letter using his full name.
- Natalie testified that the letter was Eric’s way of expressing love and reassuring her about their relationship, and that after writing it Eric told her he intended to legally create a will in the future.
- Natalie later discovered an unsigned LegalZoom-generated draft titled “The Last Will and Testament of Eric Hand,” which would have distributed 52% of the estate to Natalie and 48% to the children.
- Natalie applied in probate court to admit the handwritten letter to probate as Eric’s will; the children’s interests were represented in the proceeding, and the estate’s fiduciary also opposed admission.
- The probate court denied the application, and Natalie appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the handwritten letter was a valid will under Ohio Rev. Code § 2107.03 despite lacking attesting witnesses.
2. Whether the letter could be admitted to probate under Ohio Rev. Code § 2107.24 based on clear and convincing evidence that Eric intended the letter to constitute his will.
3. Whether the surrounding circumstances—including the letter’s character as a love letter, Natalie’s testimony, and the existence of an unsigned LegalZoom will—showed that Eric lacked present testamentary intent when he wrote the letter.

## Decision

- The court of appeals affirmed the probate court’s denial of admission to probate.
- The letter did not satisfy Ohio Rev. Code § 2107.03 because it was not properly witnessed as an attested will.
- The letter also could not be admitted under Ohio Rev. Code § 2107.24 because the evidence did not clearly and convincingly show that Eric intended the letter itself to operate as his will when he wrote it.

## Legal Principles

- Under Ohio Rev. Code § 2107.03, a written will generally must be signed by the testator and attested and subscribed by two competent witnesses in the testator’s conscious presence.
- Ohio Rev. Code § 2107.24 allows probate of a document that does not meet the usual execution formalities only if the proponent proves by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent prepared or signed the document and intended it to constitute the decedent’s will.
- Testamentary intent requires a present intent that the specific document function as the testator’s will, not merely an expression of future plans or reassurance to a loved one.
- In deciding whether intent is proven, courts may consider the document’s language and context, where it was kept, the proponent’s testimony about the decedent’s statements, and related estate-planning activity that suggests an unfinished plan.
- Appellate courts generally defer to the probate court’s fact findings and credibility determinations when supported by competent evidence.

## Conclusion

In *Estate of Hand*, the Twelfth District held that a handwritten letter found among love letters—though containing the phrase “As my last will and testament” and signed by the decedent—was not admissible to probate because it lacked the statutory witnessing required for a will and, considering the letter’s romantic context, the spouse’s testimony that the decedent planned to create a “legal” will later, and the existence of an unsigned LegalZoom draft, the proponent did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent intended the letter itself to serve as his operative will.


Estate of Hand, 73 N.E.3d 880 (2016)