If you’ve carefully drafted a will and stored it somewhere safe, you might assume that’s enough. A recent Arkansas Court of Appeals decision is a reminder that where you store your original will — and who has access to it — can have major implications after you’re gone.
The Case
In Williams v. Bridges Estate, Carson Bridges Sr. executed a will in 2017 leaving specific bequests to his wife and children, with the bulk of his estate going to his son Carson Jr. He placed the original in a safe deposit box and kept copies elsewhere. After he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, declared incapacitated, and moved to a nursing home, his wife cleaned out the attic of their home. When Carson Sr. died in 2023, the original will was nowhere to be found.
His son Julius argued the estate should pass by intestacy — meaning without a will — because Arkansas law presumes that a missing original will was intentionally revoked by the person who made it.
The court disagreed. It admitted a copy of the will to probate, finding that the circumstances surrounding the will’s disappearance — Carson Sr.’s cognitive decline, his years in a nursing home without access to his belongings, and the inadvertent discarding of his stored documents — were sufficient to overcome the presumption of revocation.
What the Law Requires
Under Arkansas law, a lost or destroyed will can be admitted to probate, but the burden is on the person seeking to probate it. They must prove the will’s contents and establish that the will existed at the time of death or was fraudulently destroyed. When an original will can’t be found, the law presumes the testator destroyed it intentionally — a presumption that can be overcome, but only with meaningful evidence.
In this case the court found that evidence of Alzheimer’s, guardianship, nursing home confinement, and the accidental clearing of stored documents provided a plausible innocent explanation for the will’s absence — enough to tip the scales.
The Practical Lesson
This case illustrates a problem that arises more often than people expect, particularly when a testator experiences cognitive decline in their final years. Here’s what it means for you:
Tell someone where your will is. Your executor should know exactly where the original is stored. A will nobody can find is a will that may be presumed revoked.
Consider filing your will with the court. Arkansas allows wills to be deposited with the circuit clerk for safekeeping during the testator’s lifetime. It’s a simple step that eliminates the “missing original” problem entirely.
Review your estate plan if your circumstances change. The 2017 will in this case was executed after a second marriage. Life changes — marriage, divorce, the birth of children or grandchildren, significant asset changes — are all triggers to revisit your estate plan with your attorney.
Cognitive decline makes everything harder. This case turned on the fact that Carson Sr. was incapacitated and institutionalized for years before his death. If you have aging parents with existing estate plans, now is the time to make sure original documents are located, secured, and accounted for — before a crisis makes that impossible.
A well-drafted will is only as good as the ability to produce it when it matters. If you have questions about your estate plan or want to make sure your documents are properly stored and protected, give our office a call.