CHAPTER 232 - WILLS PROVIDING FOR PROOF OF WILLS WHERE WITNESSES ARE SERVING IN ARMED FORCES
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 93 OF THE REVISED CODE OF DELAWARE, 1935, PROVIDING FOR THE PROOF OF WILLS WHERE SUBSCRIBING WITNESSES ARE UNAVAILABLE, BY REASON OF SERVICE IN THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
SECTION 1. When it appears to the court that a will cannot be proven as otherwise provided by law because one or more or all of the subscribing witnesses to the will, at the time the will is offered for probate, are serving in or present with the Armed Forces of the United States or as merchant seamen, or are dead or mentally or physically incapable of testifying or otherwise unavailable, in the course of such service, the court may admit the will to probate upon the testimony in person or by deposition of at least two credible disinterested witnesses that the signature to the will is in the handwriting of the person whose will it purports to be, or upon other sufficient proof of such handwriting. The foregoing provision shall not preclude the court, in its discretion, from requiring in addition, the testimony in person or by deposition of any available subscribing witness, or proof of such other pertinent facts and circumstances as the court may deem necessary to admit the will to probate.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Approved April 13, 1945.