ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 246
(By Senator Wooton)
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[Introduced February 2, 1994;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eleven, article five, chapter
forty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to reducing the
appeal periods for impeaching or establishing a will.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eleven, article five, chapter forty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. PRODUCTION, PROBATE AND RECORD OF WILLS.
§41-5-11. Impeachment or establishment of will -- By person who
was not party to prior proceeding; trial by jury.
After a judgment or order entered as aforesaid in a
proceeding for probate ex parte, any person interested who was
not a party to the proceeding, or any person who was not a party
to a proceeding for probate in solemn form, may proceed by
complaint to impeach or establish the will, on which complaint,if required by any party, a trial by jury shall be ordered, to
ascertain whether any, and if any, how much, of what was so
offered for probate, be the will of the decedent. The court may
require all other testamentary papers of the decedent to be
produced, and the inquiry shall then be which one of all, or how
much of any, of the testamentary papers is the will of the
decedent. If the judgment or order was entered by the circuit
court on appeal from the county commission, such complaint shall
be filed within three months from the date thereof, and if the
judgment or order was entered by the county commission and there
was no appeal therefrom, such complaint shall be filed within
three months from the date of such order of the county
commission. If no such complaint be filed within the time
prescribed, the judgment or order shall be forever binding. Any
complaint filed under this section shall be in the circuit court
of the county wherein probate of the will was allowed or denied.