Illustrating the Need for Probate Court

The Army offers representation at court

 

 

In the late 1980’s, the U.S. Army provided Americans with a court case that underlined the value of probate court. The case concerned a contested will, or rather two contested wills. Both the mother and the wife of a deceased member of the Army band claimed to have the true will from that band player. It soon became obvious that a probate court would need to settle the dispute.

 

Both women claimed that they had been told about the will which granted to them inheritance of the decedent’s estate. It was clear that a probate court would need to study the argument of each alleged inheritor. A probate court would need to decide which of the two should be granted the right to use and, if desired, sell the home for which the decedent had held a title.

 

This writer does not know what was spoken by attorneys from either side, when the case received a hearing in probate court. She would like to know if anyone played any music following the reading of the verdict. The decision of the probate court favored the Band member’s widow, a woman who had befriended many Band members.

 

Actually, neither of those women felt ready to take-on the trials and tribulations of probate court. Both of those women had cared for the band member during his last days on Earth. Those women had exhausted themselves while providing that care. They did not relish the idea of a court battle. Each called-on friends and Family to help them prepare for the session in probate court.

 

In reality, the truly important decisions had been made at a time well in advance of any court date. Those truly important decisions had not concerned themselves with the provisions in the will. They had rather dealt with the location at which the deceased band member would be buried. Army officials had arranged for their former band member to have a final resting place inside of Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Individuals who help with the handling of cases in a probate court tend to focus on the distribution of the property of the decedent. Those individuals seldom give much thought to the importance of the burial site. That is because few of the decedents who have their estates contested in probate court qualify for a gravesite within Arlington National Cemetery. The Army band member did qualify for such a site.

 

Today many visitors in Arlington National Cemetery file past the gravestone of that former band member. No one in that file of tourists will ever see any mention of the probate court that heard the case that arose from that gentleman’s death. To the women who had contested the band member’s wills, that probate court has become but a dim memory. Those women now focus on the Arlington gravesite where their loved one is buried.

 

Individuals who plan to appear in the probate court in the near future might want to keep the above story in mind. It illustrates the fact that the decision from a probate court might appear important when it first comes down, but its importance could well pale over time.

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