## Facts

- Dale Slack wrote and signed a one-page handwritten instrument disposing of property, including gifts to Michael Truitt and Teresa (Terri) Truitt.
- Slack sought two witness signatures on the document under the words “Witnessed By.”
- Witness Dorothy Morgan signed where indicated but was not told the document was a will and later could not recall whether Slack had already signed it when she signed.
- Witness Sandra Bradley signed minutes later in the same location and recalled that Slack’s signature was on the document when she signed.
- Approximately two hours after obtaining the witness signatures, Slack died by suicide.
- A probate dispute arose between Slack’s estate representative and the named beneficiary over whether the handwritten instrument satisfied Maryland’s statutory execution and attestation requirements.

## Issues

1. Whether a will signed by the testator outside the witnesses’ presence is validly attested when the witnesses were not told the document was a will and one witness cannot recall seeing the testator’s signature.
2. Whether an attestation clause and a will that appears regular on its face create a presumption of due execution sufficient to admit the will to probate despite uncertain witness recollection.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Maryland affirmed the intermediate appellate court and held the handwritten instrument was properly attested.
- The court ordered that the document be admitted to probate.
- The court concluded that the presumption of due execution arising from a regular instrument with witness signatures was not rebutted by one witness’s lack of memory or lack of knowledge of the document’s character.

## Legal Principles

- A will that is regular on its face, signed by the testator, and accompanied by a signed attestation clause (or equivalent witness attestation language with signatures) gives rise to a presumption that statutory execution and attestation requirements were satisfied.
- Maryland’s attestation statute requires that witnesses attest the testator’s signing or acknowledgment; it does not require that witnesses be told the instrument is a will.
- A witness’s imperfect or uncertain recollection, standing alone, does not defeat probate where documentary and circumstantial evidence supports due execution and the presumption of due execution is not overcome.
- The requirement of signing in the witnesses’ presence may be satisfied by acknowledgment of the testator’s signature, and the inquiry focuses on whether the witnesses functioned as attesting witnesses to the testator’s execution or acknowledgment.

## Conclusion

The court held that the handwritten will was validly attested and admissible to probate because the will’s apparent regularity and witness signatures supported a presumption of due execution that was not rebutted by one witness’s faulty memory or ignorance that the document was a will.


Slack v. Truitt, 368 Md. 2, 791 A.2d 129 (Md. 2002)