Matter of Estate of Craddock

A purported holographic will was denied admission in probate by the District Court of Silver Bow County. Proponent appeals. We affirm.

The issue is whether the purported will, written with a pencil on a small piece of paper, is entirely in decedent’s handwriting, qualifying it as a valid holographic will. The focus of this issue is whether blue penciled cross-outs, obliterating part of the sentence, were made by decedent.

Proponent of the purported will is Ralph Craddock, decedent on the latter’s ranch near Ramsey, Montana, from 1953 until 1969, and who performed most of the physical labor on…