OR Bar Wills Trusts and Estates 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Oregon requires how many witnesses to sign a formal attested will?
- One witness who is not a beneficiary
- Two witnesses (Correct answer)
- Three witnesses
- No witnesses if the testator signs before a notary
Correct answer: Two witnesses
Oregon requires two witnesses who must sign within a reasonable time after witnessing the testator sign or acknowledge the will.
Question 2: A valid Oregon holographic will must have which of the following?
- The testator's signature and two witnesses
- The signature and material portions in the testator's handwriting (Correct answer)
- Notarization and testator's signature
- Two witnesses and handwritten portions
Correct answer: The signature and material portions in the testator's handwriting
Oregon recognizes holographic wills if the signature and the material portions of the document are in the testator's own handwriting, without witnesses.
Question 3: What does testamentary capacity require a testator to understand at the time of executing a will?
- Their legal rights and the tax implications of the estate plan
- The nature of the act, natural objects of their bounty, nature and extent of their property, and the plan of distribution (Correct answer)
- The probate process and potential creditor claims against the estate
- The legal definitions of all terms used in the will
Correct answer: The nature of the act, natural objects of their bounty, nature and extent of their property, and the plan of distribution
Testamentary capacity requires understanding the nature of making a will, one's natural heirs, one's property, and how the will distributes the estate.
Question 4: Which most accurately describes undue influence in the context of a will contest?
- Any family member giving advice about estate planning choices
- Pressure that overcomes the testator's free will and substitutes another person's desires for the testator's own (Correct answer)
- Emotional appeals by potential beneficiaries to change a bequest
- An attorney's advice that results in the client changing their estate plan
Correct answer: Pressure that overcomes the testator's free will and substitutes another person's desires for the testator's own
Undue influence occurs when another's pressure overrides the testator's independent judgment so the will reflects the influencer's desires rather than the testator's own wishes.
Question 5: Under the doctrine of dependent relative revocation, if a testator revokes Will #1 believing Will #2 is valid, but Will #2 is later declared void, what is the result?
- Will #1 is permanently revoked and the estate passes by intestacy
- The revocation of Will #1 is treated as conditional and may be disregarded, potentially allowing Will #1 to be probated (Correct answer)
- Will #2's void provisions are severed and the remainder is probated
- The testator's most recent signed expression of intent controls absolutely
Correct answer: The revocation of Will #1 is treated as conditional and may be disregarded, potentially allowing Will #1 to be probated
DRR treats a revocation as conditional on a mistaken assumption; if the new will fails, the court may disregard the revocation and probate the earlier will.
Question 6: A testator clearly writes 'VOID' across every page of their executed will with intent to revoke it. Under Oregon law, this act:
- Does not constitute revocation because no new will was executed simultaneously
- Constitutes a valid revocation by cancellation with revocatory intent (Correct answer)
- Must be witnessed by two persons to be effective
- Is effective only if filed with the probate court before death
Correct answer: Constitutes a valid revocation by cancellation with revocatory intent
Oregon allows revocation by physical acts including canceling or obliterating the will with revocatory intent, without requiring additional formalities.
Question 7: A will states: 'I give my car to Alice, but if Alice predeceases me, to Alice's children.' Alice predeceases the testator. Which governs distribution?
- Oregon's anti-lapse statute, which substitutes Alice's surviving issue
- The express contingent gift clause in the will, passing to Alice's children (Correct answer)
- The residuary clause, because the primary beneficiary predeceased
- Intestacy, because the bequest has lapsed
Correct answer: The express contingent gift clause in the will, passing to Alice's children
When a testator expressly provides an alternate gift if the primary beneficiary predeceases, that express provision controls over the anti-lapse statute.
OR Bar Wills Trusts and Estates 2
Oregon requires how many witnesses to sign a formal attested will?