Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 76A.djvu/674

–578– -578allegation is correct, an order shall be issued and served upon the person alleged to have possession of the will, requiring him to produce it at a time named in the order. If he has possession of the will and neglects or refuses to produce it in obedience to the order, he may, by warrant from the court, be committed to jail and confined therein until he produces it. § 933. Persons who may petition for probate At any time after the death of the testator, an executor, devisee, or legatee named in his will, or any other person interested in the estate, may petition the division of the court having jurisdiction to have the will proved, whether the will: (1) be in writing or nuncupative; (2) be in possession of the petitioner or not; (3) is lost or destroyed; or (4) is beyond the jurisdiction of the Canal Zone. § 934. Executor's renouncement of right to letters by failure to petition If the person named in a will as executor, for 30 dkys after he has knowledge of the death of a testator and that he is named as executor, fails to petition the proper division of the court for the probate of the will, and that letters testamentary be issued to him, he may be held to have renounced his right to letters, and the court may appoint any other competent person administrator, unless good cause for delay is shown. § 935. Proof of nuncupative will; limitations; time for reduction to writing; notice; subsequent proceedings Proof of a nuncupative will may not be received unless: (1) the will is offered within six months after the testamentary words were spoken; and (2) the words, or the substance thereof were reduced to writing within 30 days after they were spoken, and the writing is filed with the petition for probate thereof. Notice of the petition shall be given, any contest of the will made and conducted, and subsequent proceedings in administration had, as in the case of a written will. § 936. Essential contents of petition for probate; defects A petition for the probate of a will shall show: (1) the jurisdictional facts; (2) whether the person named as executor consents to act, or renounces his right to letters testamentary; (3) the names, ages, and residences of the heirs, legatees, and devisees of the decedent, so far as known to the petitioner; (4) the character and estimated value of the property of the estate; and (5) the name of the person for whom letters testamentary or of administration with the will annexed are prayed. A defect of form or in the statement of jurisdictional facts actually existing does not taake void the probate of a will. § 937. Notice of hearing; publication When a petition for probate of a will is filed, and the will produced, the clerk of the court shall set the petition for hearing by the court not less than 10 nor more than 30 days from the production of the will. The clerk shall publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the Canal Zone. If the notice is published in a weekly newspaper, it shall appear therein on at least three different days of publication. If it is published in a newspaper pub-

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