Revocation of a Will. William Laneer urged his son, also William, to join the family business. The son, who was made partner, became suspicious of the handling of the busi-ness's finances. He filed a suit against the business and reported it to the

Internal Revenue Service. Laneer then executed a will that disinherited his son, giving him one dollar and leaving the balance of the estate equally to Laneer's four daughters, including Bellinda Barrera. Until his death more than twenty years later, Laneer harbored ill feelings toward his son. After Laneer's death, his original copy of the will could not be found. A photocopy was found in his safe-deposit box, however, and his lawyer's original copy was entered for probate in an Arkansas state court. Barrera, who wanted her brother William to share an equal portion of the inheritance, filed a petition to contest the will. Barrera claimed, among other things, that Laneer had revoked the will, and that was why his original copy of the will could not be found. Was the will revoked? If so, to whom would the estate be distributed?

Revocation of a will
The court rejected Barrera's claim that the will had been revoked. Barrera appealed. The state supreme court affirmed the decision of the lower court. The state supreme court acknowledged that if a testator kept, or had access to, his or her will and it could not be found after the testa-tor's death, there was a presumption that the will had been destroyed. "This presumption, how-ever, may be overcome by proof." The court pointed out that a copy of the will had been found in the testator's safety deposit box. Furthermore, "no evidence was offered showing William Y. had made any effort to revoke or destroy the will retained by" the lawyer. The court also noted that Laneer "retained ill feelings towards [his son] for suing the family business and reporting it to the IRS." If the will had been revoked, the estate would have been distributed to all five chil-dren in equal shares according to the laws of descent and distribution.