Estate of STEVEN WAYNE STOKER, Deceased. DESTINY GULARTE et al., Petitioners and Appellants, v. DANINE PRADIA et al., Objectors and Respondents

Holding

The court held that a handwritten document dated 2005, though lacking the requisite witness signatures, was properly admitted to probate as the decedent’s valid will pursuant to Probate Code section 6110, subdivision (c)(2), because clear and convincing evidence established the testator’s intent that it constitute his will. It further held that a petition to probate a subsequent will constitutes, in practical effect, a timely contest to a prior trust within the meaning of Probate Code section 16061.8, and that the 2009 amendments to the Probate Code applied to the proceeding.