Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 76A.djvu/679

–583– -583§ 1037. Filing and recording will and certificate of proof At the close of a proceeding under this subchapter in which probate is granted, the clerk shall file and record the will, and a certificate of proof thereof. When so filed and recorded, the will and certificate constitute part of the record in the proceeding. The clerk shall also file all testimony given in the proceeding. Subchapter III—Contests After Probate § 1061. Contest within one year; petition A person interested may, within one year after the probate of a will, contest the probate or validity of the will. For that purpose he shall file in the division of the court in which the will was proved a petition in writing, containing his allegations against the validity of the will or against the sufficiency of the proof, and praying that the probate be revoked. § 1062. Citation Upon filing a petition pursuant to this subchapter, and within one year after the probate, a citation shall be issued to the executor of the will, or to the administrator with the will annexed, and to all the legatees and devisees mentioned in the will, and heirs residing in the Canal Zone, as far as known to the petitioner or to their guardians, if any of them is a minor or is legally incompetent, or to their personal representatives, if any of them is dead, requiring them to appear before the court on a day therein specified, to show cause why the probate of the will should not be revoked. § 1063. Proof of service; trial; revocation of probate At the time appointed for showing cause, or at any time to which the hearing is postponed, proof having been made of service of the citation upon all of the persons named therein, the court shall proceed to try the issues of fact joined in the same manner as an original contest of a will. If the original probate was granted without a contest, a trial by jury shall be had, as in the case of a contest before probate, on written demand of either party, filed three days prior to the hearing. If, upon hearing the proofs of the parties, the jury finds, or, if no jury is had, the court decides, that the will is invalid or is not the last will of the testator, the probate shall be revoked. § 1064. Effect of revocation upon executor or administrator Upon the revocation of the probate of a will, the powers of the executor or administrator with the will annexed shall cease; but he is not liable for any act done in good faith previous to the revocation. § 1065. Costs If, in a proceeding under this subchapter, the will is not revoked, the costs shall be paid by the contestant. If the probate is revoked, the costs shall be paid by the party who resisted the revocation, or out of the property of the decedent, as the court directs. § 1066. Conclusiveness of probate; limitations; infants and persons of unsound mind If the validity or the probate of a will is not contested within one year after the probate, the probate is conclusive; saving to infants and persons of unsound mind a like period of one year after their respective disabilities are removed. § 1067. Failure to contest as not precluding probate of another will Failure to contest a will does not preclude the subsequent probate of another will of the decedent.

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