In Re the Estate of Baker

OPINION

STOWERS, Chief Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Alaska Statute 13.12.502(b) provides that a testamentary instrument will be “valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the 'signature and material portions of the document are in the testator’s handwriting.” Before us is a purported holographic will, written totally in the decedent’s handwriting, with instructions to distribute the decedent’s estate at death. The sole question on appeal is whether the decedent’s handwritten name at the beginning of the document is a “signature” as contemplated by AS 13.12.602(b). This is an issue of…