found this online: http://www.nolo.com/definition cfm/Term/A5984CE3-F524-465E-855E354EB50AF474/alpha/P/ proving a will Convincing a probate court that a document is truly the deceased person's will. Usually this is a simple formality that the executor or administrator easily satisfies by showing that the will was signed and dated by the deceased person in front of two or more witnesses. When the will is holographic -- that is, completely handwritten by the deceased and not witnessed, it is still valid in many states if the executor can produce relatives and friends to testify that the handwriting is that of the deceased. -------Original Message------- From: listadministratordegruyl Date: 11/3/2008 8:44:16 AM To: GEN Degruy Mailing list at Rootsweb Subject: [DEGRUY] help with a term Mornin', I'm working with some data from Maryland [not Louisiana] and I've come across a term I need help to understand.... What does it mean to "prove" a will? Does that mean that the person whose will it is has already died by the date of the proved will... or does it mean something else? In the specific example I'm working with the date that the will was written [in the script of my ancestor] is different from the date the will was "proved." So I'm trying to extrapolate an approximate date of death from those two dates. Of course that all goes out the window if he was still alive at the time his will was proved. Thanks for helping Renée ps I'm assuming the term means the same in Louisiana as in MD, but maybe not.... maybe Napoleonic [sp.?] law is different.... The productivity of our Degruy list depends upon generosity in sharing family research. This is a "discussion" list. Individual messages cannot be assumed to be "fact." All data should be verified. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message