I have always believed my Husbands Will was forged. 5 years later estate still open and just about depleated because the Will left everything to this person and now I have come across a sample of the persons handwriting I believe to have forged his Will. I know I still have to have it examined by someone with credentials in this field, so let's just say I did and the results were that the Will was authored by the same person who authored these handwriting samples, am I able to still have them charged and arrested for forgery of someone's last Will and Testement?

I will go out on a legal limb here, since the estate is still open, the crime is still on going, for the fraud of the estate.
So you should still be able to go to the DA with proof and have charges filed,

But I have to ask, it is not proving that they did it, but proving it was not husband that signed, why did you not 5 years ago, take copies of husband hand writing to be compared ? That is first step proving it was not your husband and that the will is fake.
Then you prove who faked it

I did this and sent notarized copies to the personal administrator, and when he had his handwriting examined by this expert, who is a police officer, and has worked in check fraud etc, this administrator (lets call him Bob) used samples out of his cell, he died in jail. Anyhow, these samples did not even have his signature on them. The expert said that the samples Bob provided were in fact not authored by the person who wrote this holographic Will. Then another woman appeared out of no where, she was the one who discovered the Will, and she wanted her samples examined, and they also did not have his signature on it. But the expert said they were authored by the same by the same person. And it wasn't till much later that I found out he never used mine. Now the attornies I hired failed me horribly, by not filing for my elective share, and then writing up a settlement agreement that I did not need, if all I am going to get by law is homestead and property allowance, than that is all I get, why the settlement agreement. So I signed it after months of arguing with them because in the first paragraph it said I believe the Will to be valid, now I am out of luck as far as contesting it. So all I can do now is make sure that person is punished. I think, unless you know another way of going about this. If so, please let me know.

Last Will and Testament Drafting States:

The general requirements of a "holographic" will are that it be signed by the maker and that "material portions" of the document are in the maker's handwriting. See Montana Probate Code Section 72-2-522(c)(2) for an example of state law on this point.

So, if none of the will could be show to be in the testator's handwriting then it could be thrown out. Since, as Chuck noted, the will is still in probate, then the crime is ongoing and the statute of limitations on fraud would not apply.

I think this might help, or at least put me in the right direction. If you think of anything else, please let me know. My problem is I signed a settlement agreement that I did not want to. My lawyer and I argued about it for months. I told him I did not want to sign the settlement agreement because the first paragraph said I believed the will to be valid, which I did not, and I told him and told him that. He told me if I didn't sign it then I can kiss any money goodbye because it will all go to attorney fees. So I signed it. But I was reading something and it said if you sign something based on fraud or duress, the judge can modify the settlement agreement. I don't know, hopefully. Cross your fingers.

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Originally Posted by Bobby41

He told me if I didn't sign it then I can kiss any money goodbye because it will all go to attorney fees. So I signed it. But I was reading something and it said if you sign something based on fraud or duress, the judge can modify the settlement agreement.

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Hello B:

Doesn't sound like duress to me.. You signed the settlement for the reasons everybody signs a settlement. They want the money and they don't want to fight any longer... Look, I'm on your side. I just want you to prepare yourself...

excon

I agree with excon, BUT, I think you should take the approach that you uncovered new information that, had you known about it, would have caused you to refuse the settlement. That might fly more than duress.

Scott, Excon, That is true when you say I discovered information. You see, the personal representative believed the holographic Will to be valid based on his belief that the Will went straight from my husbands body to the coroner, therefore someone would have had to sneak in this jail and put this will on his body. That is why he believed the will was valid. Well I found newspaper articles stating that it came from this other woman at the hospital and was given to the sherriff. I told this to the representative of his estate and he decided to investigate it. Then the representative told me I needed to get an attorney right away to represent me there, and now that I have done so he will no talk to me. My attorneys I hired said there wasn't much they could do based on the fact I signed that settlement agreement which said I believed the will to be valid. Please respond if you can asap I am seriously running out of time to do anything. Thank you so much for trying to help me. :o)

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Originally Posted by Bobby41

My attorneys I hired said there wasn't much they could do based on the fact I signed that settlement agreement which said I believed the will to be valid. Please respond if you can asap I am seriously running out of time to do anything. Thank you so much for trying to help me. :o)

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Hello again, B:

Of course, you KNOW I'm not an attorney. If you're saying above, that your own attorney told you there wasn't anything [they] could do about it, meaning there isn't anything YOU CAN do about it, I'd either hire another attorney or believe the one you've got. Apparently he believes there wasn't any duress either.

excon

Scott, Excon, That is true when you say I discovered information. You see, the personal representative believed the holographic Will to be valid based on his belief that the Will went straight from my husbands body to the coroner, therefore someone would have had to sneak in this jail and put this will on his body. That is why he believed the will was valid. Well I found newspaper articles stating that it came from this other woman at the hospital and was given to the sherriff. I told this to the representative of his estate and he decided to investigate it. Then the representative told me I needed to get an attorney right away to represent me there, and now that I have done so he will no talk to me. My attorneys I hired said there wasn't much they could do based on the fact I signed that settlement agreement which said I believed the will to be valid. Please respond if you can asap I am seriously running out of time to do anything. Thank you so much for trying to help me. :o)

Get another lawyer and see if you can refute the settlement based on new information. I don't know for sure if it will fly in court, but I think it's the only thing you can try.

Scott and Excon, Okay here is what I think, I signed that settlement agreement based on the fact that the personal representative led me to believe that will was valid, based on what his handwriting expert said. Well, I discovered this other woman's handwriting in my foot deep paper work about two weeks ago, I am getting ready to go see a forensic handwriting expert to see if it is in fact her handwriting on the will. If it is and the Personal Representative was wrong, then I signed that agreement based upon a lie or a very poor handwriting expert. So wouldn't that give me some leverage or something for being able to contest the will, or at least being able to sue the representative for failing to do his job(mising the hearing to have the will entered into probate, stating that the will was my husbands handwriting, when what the expert said was that it was not authored by the same author of the will, and then stating that it was authored by the same person who authored the will, not to mention the safety deposit box key they found out months later existed, and instead of going to where the safety deposit box key was from and showing their credentials and opening it, they sit and wait for this other woman to bring it in another month later). So in other words, can this Representative be held accountable for his errors which have cost me a 200,000.00 estate. When this whole thing started I had cancer, that is why I reliquished my rights as executor or administrator and put it in the courts hands to do what is right according to law. You would think they would have someone competent in that area, which they didn't, so the administrator hired an attorney to represent her, and if a person didn't know better would think this was a conspiracy. Especially since I find out this attorney for the administrator is friends with this other woman's attorney. Tell me what do you think.

Hello again, b:

IF the will turns out to be a forgery, you may very well defeat your earlier written acknowledgment. You'll still need a lawyer, though.

excon