Lowy v. Roberts

Robert Lowy, decedent, executed his will in January 1982. The will was six pages long, and Richard and the two attesting witnesses had all signed the will on the last two pages. Following Richard’s death, a document purported to be Richard’s original, unaltered will was submitted to probate. Onelia Lowy (plaintiff) challenged the will, arguing that the first four pages had been substituted after the execution of the will and that the contents of Paragraph Fifth of the will were changed. Onelia alleged that the substituted four pages had been stapled to the original signed pages to make the will appear authentic, supported by the fact that the last two pages had additional staple holes that the first four pages did not. Onelia claimed that the original Paragraph Fifth granted her all of Richard’s furniture, personal property, and belongings without restriction, but that the altered Paragraph Fifth restricted that bequest to only the items within the 1420 South Bayshore Drive residence. Under both wills, the residuary of the estate was split 60/40 between Onelia and Carol Roberts (defendant), Richard’s niece. The effect of the alleged alteration was to increase the residuary of the estate and thereby increase Carol’s inheritance. Onelia alleged that Richard had signed and initialed all six pages of the original will, not just the last two, and submitted what she claimed to be an exact conformed copy of the original, unaltered will to support her position. The trial court dismissed Onelia’s petition without trial, and Onelia appealed.