Napier v. Presbyterian Home

By JUDGE HENRY H. WHITING

Counsel for the proponent of the last executed document have cited First Church of Christ, Scientist v. Hutchings, 209 Va. 158, 163 S.E.2d 178 (1968), as holding that when the Clerk probated the will in an ex parte proceeding the "question was decided and settled by the order admitting the paper to probate."

In admitting a will to probate, the Court ruled, the Clerk acts in a judicial capacity and the order made by him admitting or rejecting a will is as much a judgment as though entered by the Court the validity of which can be challenged only in the manner prescribed…