Will signature witness

[shero101]

Hi, a relative is an excutor of a will that is being processed at the moment. They have called one of the witnesses to the signature on the will for interview. Has anyone ever heard of this before ? All they did was witness the signature, as is the procedure, and now they are expected to take time off work and go to an office in another town to be interviewed about it. I find it extraordinary that this is requied and I will certainly think twice before signing anything like this in future.

[Barmaid]

There is clearly some doubt that the will was witnessed correctly in accordance with the statutory provisions. Perhaps someone is claiming that the will is invalid, perhaps there was no clause reciting how the will was witnessed, or perhaps the probate registry have queried something as the signature is odd. As this is the case, the only people who can give evidence about the circumstances of the execution are the people present at the time and the most obvious people will be the two (or more) witnesses. I suspect the witness is going to be asked to either make a statement or to make something called an affidavit of due execution (ie to swear a document to say that exactly what was done and how). This is not normally required, and only happens if there is a potential problem.

[Peter Pedant]

Be cool about this
He should go and give the interview
And yes,signing documents is a serious business and should be taken seriously

I had a colleague who had witnessed my will, and about three years later he said, Peter I have never witnessed any document of yours and got a bit poncy about it.
Instead of getting the will and saying look here you old fool....I re-executed a redated and identical will the next day with two witnesses at work who had better memories !
Think what HE wouldhave done if he had been asked to attest the signaure after my death !!

pp

[shero101]

Thanks Barmaid and PP for your answers.