§ 33-7-26 - Proof of purported will or codicil.
SECTION 33-7-26
§ 33-7-26 Proof of purported will orcodicil. – In the absence of objection by anyone interested in the estate of a deceasedperson, the probate court may admit to probate a purported will or codicil ofthe deceased person upon oral testimony or affidavit in the following manner:
(1) The oral testimony of any one of the subscribingwitnesses as to the due execution of any purported will or codicil shallconstitute sufficient evidence thereof.
(2) An affidavit by the subscribing witnesses or any one ormore of them, to any purported will or codicil, executed at any time afterexecution of the will or codicil, whether before or after the death of thetestator, before any officer authorized to administer oaths in or out of thisstate, stating the facts as the witnesses or witness would be required totestify to in court to prove the will or codicil, shall constitute sufficientevidence of the due execution of the purported will or codicil.
(3) An affidavit substantially in the form that follows shallbe deemed to meet the requirements of subdivision (2) of this section:
STATE OF
COUNTY OF
In . . . . . . . . . . on this . . . . . . . dayof . . . . . . ., 19 . . . ., before me personally appeared the undersigned, who, being dulysworn, depose and say that: they witnessed the execution of the will (codicil)of . . . . . . .; that the signature to thewill (codicil) is in the handwriting of the testator or was made by some otherperson for the testator, in the testator's presence and by the testator'sexpress direction; that the testator so subscribed the will (codicil) anddeclared the same to be his last will (a codicil to his last will) in theirpresence; that they thereafter subscribed the same as witnesses in the presenceof the testator and in the presence of each other; that at the time ofexecution of the will (codicil) the testator appeared to be of sound mind andeighteen (18) years of age or over; and that the signatures of the witnesses onthe will are genuine.
Subscribed and sworn to before me on the day and date firstabove written,
Notary public