4.2.4 Possible Problems with Olographic Testaments

Sometimes a testator may draft a will on a paper bearing preprinted extraneous material such as a personal or business letterhead. A letterhead will not defeat the formal requisites of an olographic will provided that the testament itself is entirely written, dated, and signed in the testator’s handwriting. Courts have ignored printed words whose presence on the document is incidental. An exception has evolved with respect to partially printed dates. To uphold a will where a portion of the date was printed, the handwritten portion of the date must be sufficient to be certain of the date when the printed numbers are ignored.1  In other words, the ignored numerals must not be essential to a determination of the date.

The language used in the will must also reflect animus testandi.2  Even if a document has expressions that reflect an intent to direct the division of the author’s property upon the author’s death, the words must signify bequests and that the testator intends that “very paper to be his will.”3  For instance, if a testator directs a person to sell the testator’s home, but does not bequeath the sale proceeds, the directive is deficient as a legacy. The testator can direct heirs to divide the contents of a home among themselves, to use life insurance money for the testator’s funeral, and to pay debts from the estate. The testator can also grant the beneficiaries the power to manage the testator’s debts and “full usage of the money” in an account “to solve what problems they encounter.” Nevertheless, if there is no disposition of property to a person, the document fails to be a testament.

• 1Succession of Heinemann, 136 So. 2d 51 (La. 1931).
• 2In re Succession of Plummer, 37,243 (La. App. 2 Cir. 05/14/03), 847 So. 2d 185.
• 3Id.