Johnson v. Cauley

In this appeal, we consider whether the trial court properly found that missing original testamentary documents were in the possession of the drafting attorney and were inaccessible to the testator, giving rise to a presumption that the documents were lost, not revoked.

Josephine S. Howell executed a will in 1985 and three codicils in 1987, 1990, and 1992. Upon her death in 1999, the original of the 1990 codicil was discovered in a safe in Howell’s former home, but only copies of the will and the other two codicils were found. Three of her daughters, Amelia H. Spivey, Lynda H. Bond, and Geneva…