HPM Case Summary: When a Handwritten Will Falls Apart: Huth Pratt & Milhauser Protects a Family’s Rightful Inheritance

In a recent probate dispute, Attorneys Brandan J. Pratt and Zander J. Retamar, at the Law Firm Huth, Pratt & Milhauser: Trust, Estate and Guardianship Counsel, represented one of the children of a Florida decedent whose sibling sought to admit a handwritten will that left the entire estate to herself. The decedent was survived by six living children and the descendants of one predeceased child.

Believing the document was invalid, our client opposed the admission of the will to probate. Huth Pratt & Milhauser filed an objection and counter-petition for administration, seeking a ruling that the will was invalid and that the estate be administered by Florida’s laws of intestacy rather than the disputed will.

Florida Statute § 732.502 prescribes the formal execution requirements of a will. Specifically, this statute requires a testator to sign a will in the presence of two subscribers’ witnesses. During discovery, Attorney Zander J. Retamar deposed the two purported witnesses to the handwritten will. Their testimony revealed that the decedent had not signed the document in their presence, a direct violation of Florida Statute § 732.502.

Based on this evidence, the petitioner agreed that the will would not be admitted to probate and the estate would be administered pursuant to the laws of intestacy, ensuring that each of the decedent’s children – and the heirs of the deceased child – received an equal share.

This result highlights the firm’s commitment to protecting families from improper estate planning instruments and ensuring that Florida’s strict statutory safeguards are upheld. Huth Pratt & Milhauser is proud to have restored fairness and integrity to the estate-administration process for this family.