In Re Will of Montgomery

The proponent, appellant here, sought to have a lost will admitted to probate. At the close of all of the evidence the county court ruled that the proponent had failed to sustain the burden of proof that this instrument was the will of Clara Belle Montgomery and in full force and effect, unrevoked, at her death. A verdict was directed in favor of the contestants, appellees here, to which ruling the proponent excepted. This exception constitutes the sole ground of his appeal.

Ever since Minkler v. Minkler’s Estate, 14 Vt. 125, it has been the law of this state that the absence, at the death of…