In re the Alleged Spoliated Will of Thompson

Citations

• 16 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 121
• 1914 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 122

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Conditions Under' Which a Spoliated Will 'May be Admitted to Probate — Declarations of Decedent and Her Husband as to Existence of Will — Failure to Establish Contents With Precision.</p> <p>1. A will being in tbe custody of a person other than a testator,. and not being in existence after death of the latter who was incapable of revoking it, or not having access to it, it must have been fraudulently destroyed in the lifetime of the testator, or subsequent to his death. If so destroyed it was' fraudulently so done, and the legal result is the same precisely as if it had continued in . existence up to the time of the death of the testator.</p> <p>2. To establish the contents of a spoliated will upon declarations alone of the testator, without other clear and convincing evidence as to the precise provisions of the will would be an unsafe rule of evidence.</p> <p>3. A spoliated will can not be admitted to probate, notwithstanding declarations which sufficiently establish its existence' at the time of the death of the testator, if it- is impossible to determine its contents by clear and convincing evidence as lo its provisions.</p>