## Facts

- Steve Godfrey prepared a one-page document on a computer purporting to be his last will.
- Godfrey applied a computer-generated “stylized cursive” version of his signature at the end of the document.
- Godfrey asked neighbors Hershell and Teresa Williams to serve as attesting witnesses.
- The witnesses stated by affidavit that Godfrey affixed the computer-generated signature in their presence and in the presence of each other.
- Each witness signed and dated the document below Godfrey’s signature.
- The document devised all property to a person identified only as “Doris.”
- Godfrey died about one week later.
- Doris Holt sought probate of the document and appointment as personal representative.
- Donna Godfrey Taylor, Godfrey’s sister and sole intestate heir, sued contending the document was not “signed” and Godfrey died intestate.
- The trial court granted summary judgment for Holt, finding no genuine dispute of material fact and that execution and witnessing requirements were met.

## Issues

1. Whether a testator’s computer-generated signature, affixed by the testator with intent to authenticate in the presence of two witnesses, satisfies Tennessee’s statutory signature requirement for an attested will.
2. Whether naming the beneficiary only as “Doris” prevented probate or otherwise defeated summary judgment based on alleged uncertainty of the beneficiary’s identity.

## Decision

- The Tennessee Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Holt.
- The court held the computer-generated signature qualified as a valid “signature” under Tennessee’s statutory definition and, together with the attestation, satisfied will-execution requirements.
- The court concluded there was no genuine issue of material fact as to proper execution and witnessing based on the uncontradicted witness affidavits.
- The court rejected Taylor’s intestacy theory and permitted probate of the will.
- The beneficiary-identification challenge did not bar affirmance where the will’s execution formalities were satisfied.

## Legal Principles

- For Tennessee statutes, “signature” includes any symbol or methodology executed or adopted with present intent to authenticate a writing or record.
- An attested will must be signed by the testator and signed by at least two witnesses in the presence of the testator and of each other.
- A non-traditional method of signing (including a computer-generated signature) can satisfy the testator-signature requirement when the testator executes or adopts it with intent to authenticate and the statutory witnessing formalities are met.
- Summary judgment is proper where proof on execution and attestation is uncontradicted and no genuine dispute of material fact exists.

## Conclusion

The court upheld probate of a will bearing a computer-generated signature, ruling that Tennessee’s definition of “signature” is broad enough to include a computer-produced mark adopted by the testator with intent to authenticate, so long as the will is properly witnessed under the attested-will statute.


Taylor v. Holt, 134 S.W.3d 830 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2003)