Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-25-2015
Abstract
By prescribing the method by which courts evaluate the authenticity of wills the law of willexecution allocates probateerror risk between falsepositive outcomes and falsenegative outcomes When the court validates an inauthentic will the result is a falsepositive outcome When the court invalidates an authentic will the result is a falsenegative outcome Because falsepositive outcomes result in the admission to probate of inauthentic wills and falsenegative outcomes result in the denial of probate of genuine wills both can be characterized as probate errorsThis framework has been used to identify the problem with the conventional law of willexecution which is that it heavily allocates risk in favor of falsenegative outcomes and consequently produces probate errors that could easily be avoided It has also clarified the objective of willexecution reform which is to reallocate risk more evenly between falsepositive outcomes and falsenegative outcomes so that the total number of probate errors is minimizedThis Article applies this framework more broadly to analyze potential methods of willexecution reform Specifically this Article identifies the various components of the law of willexecution that can be altered to reallocate probateerror risk and evaluates how different methods of reform can be manipulated to reallocate risk to varying degrees With a better understanding of what is possible state policymakers may be more willing to break away from the conventional law and implement change
Recommended Citation
Glover, Mark, "Minimizing Probate-Error Risk" (2015). Faculty Articles. 51.
https://scholarship.law.uwyo.edu/faculty_articles/51
First Page
335