The Missing Will
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court decision not to enter into probate a photocopy of the will of a prominent legal scholar.
Appellant Georgette Sobel challenges the trial court’s order denying a petition for standard probate of a photocopy of a will executed by Dr. Nicholas Kittrie on October 30, 1998. Ms. Sobel, an interested party who had a romantic relationship with Dr. Kittrie, argues that the trial court erred in finding that she failed to rebut the presumption of revocation of the missing original will. Relying on our precedent in In re Estate of Creech, 989 A.2d 185, 188 (D.C 2010), she alleges that the presumption is overcome because the record evidence demonstrates that Dr. Kittrie intended to continue supporting her and the trial court erroneously found her incredible. She further asserts that the trial court misapplied legal standards for her evidentiary burden and the revocation of a will. A review of the record demonstrates that Ms. Sobel in this case may very well have established that Dr. Kittrie was interested in supporting her; however, because that very evidence further strengthened the presumption of revocation—and discerning no additional error—we affirm.
The will
Dr. Kittrie executed a will on October 30, 1998, in the office of Louis Fireison, an attorney and Dr. Kittrie’s former colleague. Dr. Kittrie left Mr. Fireison’s office with the original will and a copy of the will. Dr. Kittrie gave Ms. Sobel a sealed envelope with a copy of the will, which she gave to Mr. Fireison after Dr. Kittrie’s death. Most relevant to this case, Dr. Kittrie’s 1998 will referenced six real estate holdings and left a two-bedroom condominium in Miami Beach, Florida, to Ms. Sobel.
Following the 1998 will, Dr. Kittrie made multiple additional known writings, at least two of which were considered by the trial court. These two writings include edits to the 1998 will made on a copy of it in 2004 and a drafted will written in 2016. All parties agree that neither writing is a valid codicil or will; instead appellee cites these as dispositive evidence that Dr. Kittrie did not intend the 1998 will to remain valid. By the time of his death, Dr. Kittrie sold or gifted four of the six properties in the 1998 will, but the Miami condominium was still in his possession upon his death.
On December 4, 2019, Dr. Kittrie suffered a heart attack and was incapacitated until his death on December 9, 2019. On December 26, 2019, Mr. Fireison filed a petition for standard probate of the photocopy of the 1998 will, as the original 1998 will could not be found.
From the New World Encyclopedia
Kittrie served as professor at American University’s Washington College of Law from 1964 to 2015, and also as Dean of the Law School from 1977 to 1980. He was a pioneer in legal education, founding the LAWCOR Program (Lawyers in Corrections) which made it possible for law students to counsel inmates in federal prison. He served as president of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) in 1975, an unusual and special honor since previous ASC presidents came from the fields of sociology and criminology rather than law.
Teaching law for half a century, Kittrie influenced the thinking of those involved in all aspects of the law. His impact spread far beyond Washington DC, as he traveled around the globe to share his expertise and insights in international and criminal law. His analyses and commentaries were published widely in the news media. He also wrote and edited more than 15 books, two of which were nominated for Pulitzer Prizes. His most cited and influential work, The Right To Be Different: Deviance and Enforced Therapy, took a multi-disciplinary approach bridging law, sociology, and psychiatry.
Social Justice
Kittrie consistently championed the downtrodden, the minorities, radicals, and alternative thinkers, believing that they had the right to express their opinions whether or not they were mainstream. He defended the political offenders, the dissidents, provided they were legitimate in their dissent.
He considered it important and possible to distinguish between the worthy dissenters and the unworthy terrorists and criminals, pointing to those such as Mahatma Gandhi, George Washington, Eldridge Cleaver, and Martin Luther King, Jr. who challenged authority in order to bring about social change.
(Mike Frisch)