The death toll resulting from COVID-19 continues to climb. June was no exception, with several new probates opened and trusts administered. A common theme among them was the failure to find the decedent’s original documents. The probate process is one of the few remaining areas where an original will is still required. This is because of the presumption under Arizona law that if the original is destroyed the decedent intended to revoke it. This presumption is rebuttable and we have been successful at probating lost wills in the past, but we can’t use the informal probate process, resulting in much more time, stress and expense on the beneficiaries. After much time searching, recent beneficiaries found documents under the bed, in a random box in the garage and buried in a file labeled “Miscellaneous.” Again, make sure your successors know where to find your original documents.
