SOLDIERS’ WILLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3213, 13 October 1915, Page 3

SOLDIERS’ WILLS.

VIEWS OF FULL COURT, j WELLINGTON, October 5. In an application for administration in tha estate of Douglas Percival Eoyd, late oil' 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 that it might take the form of a letter or post card signed by the deceased, provided it? appeared to bo intended as a testa* mentary instrument, 1 jn view hf the danger that neither the person receiving the letter nor the person { named as beneficiary in it might appreciate 1 its legal effect ns a testamentary instrument, the court decided that the usual affidavit as to search for instruments should bo amplified so as to show search dr inquiry in : places to which such instruments might t have been sent, and of the persons to whom i 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 the deceased and his communications with his friends might be relevant, also the result of inquiries as to what had become of his kit, or any other receptacle which he might have had with him at the front or in hospital. The court also recommended the filing of an affidavit by a solicitor making application, showing what steps he had taken fn the direction of; exhaustive inquiries and efforts which would be likely to lead to the discovery of any, such document if it existed-