## Facts

- Theodore John Morris died leaving a document intended as his will.
- The document was a preprinted will form containing printed provisions and blank spaces that were filled in.
- At the bottom of the form, Theodore wrote two numbered handwritten paragraphs.
- The first handwritten paragraph stated that Theodore was disinheriting his son from a prior marriage.
- The second handwritten paragraph stated that Theodore was leaving his estate to his wife, Sheral Ann Morris.
- Theodore signed and dated the document.
- The probate clerk refused to admit the document to probate.
- Sheral sought review in circuit court, arguing the court should disregard the preprinted portion and admit the handwritten portion as a valid holographic will.
- A guardian ad litem, appointed to represent the couple’s minor children, opposed probate and argued the handwritten portion could not be separated from the preprinted portion, so the instrument did not qualify as a valid will.

## Issues

1. Whether the court could ignore the preprinted portion of the form and treat Theodore’s handwritten paragraphs (with signature and date) as a separate holographic will.
2. Whether a document combining a preprinted will form and handwritten terms could be probated as a holographic will when the handwritten portion was not independent of the printed text.

## Decision

- The circuit court upheld the clerk’s refusal to admit the document to probate.
- The court declined to treat the handwritten paragraphs as a stand-alone holographic will.
- Because the document could not be validated as a holographic will and was not executed with the statutory formalities required for an attested will, it was not admitted to probate.

## Legal Principles

- Virginia recognizes holographic wills only when the will’s operative testamentary provisions and the testator’s signature are in the testator’s handwriting, as required by statute.
- A court considers whether handwritten language on a preprinted form is independent and complete in itself, or whether it depends on the printed form to function as a will.
- When the printed and handwritten portions operate together as one instrument, a court may treat them as integrated rather than severable.
- A court is not required to excise printed will-form language to convert a failed, mixed form into a valid holographic will.
- If a document does not satisfy either (a) holographic-will requirements or (b) attested-will execution requirements, it cannot be admitted to probate.

## Conclusion

In *In re Will of Morris*, the circuit court refused probate of a preprinted will form that included additional handwritten paragraphs disinheriting a prior child and leaving the estate to the surviving spouse, holding that the handwritten material could not be separated and treated as an independent holographic will and the instrument otherwise failed will-execution requirements.


In re Will of Morris, 67 Va. Cir. 29 (2005)