SOLDIERS' WILLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16041, 6 October 1915, Page 5

SOLDIERS' WILLS.

ATTESTATION NOT NECESSARY.

[BE TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Wellington, Tuesday. In an application for a letter of administration in the estate of Douglas Percival Boyd, late of Rangiora, a member of the New' Zealand Expeditionary Forces, the full Court drew attention to the fact that a soldier's will need not be attested in the ordinary way, but may take the form of a letter or postcard signed by deceased, provided it appears to be intended as a testamentary instrument. In view of the danger that neither the person receiving the latter nor the person named as beneficiary in it may appreciate its legal effect as a testamentary instrument, the Court decided that the usual affidavit as to search for instruments should be amplified, so as to show search or inquiry in places to which such instruments might have been sent, and of persons to whom they might have been sent. The Court said it could not specify what should appear in such an affidavit, beyond saying that matters relating to the .habits of deceased and his communications with his friends may be relevant, also the result of inquiries as to what had become of his kit or any other receptacle which he may have had with him at the front or in hospital. The Court also recommended the filing of an affidavit by the solicitor making the application, showing what steps he had taken in the direction of exhausting inquiries and efforts which would be likely to lead to the discovery of any such document if it existed.