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Introduction: Basics of Shane v. Wooley (1921)
When we discuss the many technical aspects of wills in Maryland law, one of the main purposes of such discussions is to acquaint readers with the potential challenges which can be brought against a will. When any will be drafted, the goal is not only to document the intentions of the testator so that all resources go to the correct beneficiaries; the goal is also to ensure, as much as possible, that the will itself is unimpeachable against future challenges. As we have tried to stress, challenges against particular aspects of a will, or against the entire validity of a will itself, come in various forms, and in many cases these forms aren’t what most laypeople would expect or anticipate. The case of Shane v. Wooley (1921) demonstrates the fact that technical challenges against a will can consist of seemingly unimportant or otherwise minute details. This is one reason why having a will drafted and reviewed by an expert is so critical.
In the case of Shane v. Wooley (1921), a will was committed entirely to a single page, and so the “attestation clause” -- i.e. the section which includes signatures of witnesses – was on a separate page. The single page will was not “paginated,” meaning there was no written or established connection between the will and the page containing the attestation clause. Furthermore, the page containing the attestation clause was not physically connected or “affixed” to the will itself, but was instead directly written on the outside of the envelope which held the will. The Maryland Court of Appeals (opinion delivered by Briscoe) determined that, under these circumstances, the will was not sufficiently attested, meaning that the will was undermined in its entirety because of the arrangement of the attestation clause in relation to the single page will.
Technical Challenges Against Will Validity
Although Shane v. Wooley wasn’t the first case which involved a relatively minute technical error, this case opened the gate to other challenges of a similar nature. This is what we saw in the much more recent case of Estate of Castruccio (2017): an interested party attempted to undermine a will using the same type of logic employed in the Shane v. Wooley case. Of course, in the Estate of Castruccio case, this argument failed and the validity of the will was affirmed, but the influence of Shane v. Wooley is quite clear. Given the stakes involved, interested parties may try to cling to any conceivable argument, no matter how apparently minor or insignificant the argument might appear. This is why estate planning attorneys need to be familiar with the core cases in Maryland law: these cases help to reveal the contours of the technical requirements which establish the validity of wills.
Drafters Must Be Cautious Against Challenges
What does this mean for those readers who may be interested in drafting a new will or updating a current will? Again, every person contemplating either a new will or amendments to an existing will must be confident in the abilities of the attorney drafting the documents. This means, among other things, that the attorney is conversant with some of the foundational cases in this area, such as Shane v. Wooley (1921). Simply put, estate planning attorneys need to know not just the technical requirements for completing a will, but the contours of these requirements to the greatest extent possible. For instance, knowing the number of witness signatures required for attestation is critical, but a drafting attorney ideally knows the potential impact of not having all signatures on the same page and at the same time. In other words, a capable attorney in this area should be able to accurately anticipate potential technical challenges against the validity of a will.
Contact the Murphy Law Firm for Additional Resources
Readers who would like to know more about the impact of the famous Shane v. Wooley case, the myriad technical challenges which may be brought against a will, minimizing will vulnerability, or any other related estate planning matter, contact one of the estate planning attorneys at the Murphy Law Firm today by calling 240-219-1187.
