holographic will may be proved in the same manner as other private writings.
SOURCE: Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 331.
OFFICIAL FORM: See Official Form No. 5, Appendix AA@.

§ 1525. Proof of Lost or Destroyed Wills; Restraining Acts of
Previously Appointed Administrator Pending Hearing on Petition.
(a) No will shall be proved as a lost or destroyed will unless:
(1) Such will is proved to have been in physical existence at the time of the testator‘s death; or

(2) Such will is proved to have been destroyed by public calamity or destroyed fraudulently during the testator’s life, without the testator’s knowledge.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 1519 of this Title, no will shall be proved as a lost or destroyed will unless its provisions are clearly and distinctly proved by the sworn testimony of at least two (2) credible witnesses in open court.
(c) If, before the filing or pending the hearing of a petition to prove a lost or destroyed will, letters of administration are granted on the estate of the purported testator, or letters testamentary or letters of administra- tion with the will annexed upon any previous will of the purported testator are granted, the Superior Court of Guam may upon the motion of the petitioner restrain the personal representatives so appointed from any acts or proceedings which would be injurious to the devisees or legatees claiming under the lost or destroyed will.

SOURCE: Subsections (a) and (b): California Probate Code § 350 (as amended); Guam Law Revision Commission. Subsection (c): Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 352.

COMMENT: Following California’s lead, the second sentence of § 350 of the
Probate Code of Guam (1970) has been deleted. That sentence read: AKnowledge of
the destruction of his will by public calamity shall not be imputed to an insane

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15 Guam Code Ann. ESTATES AND PROBATE
CH. 15 PROBATE OF WILLS

person who has been committed to a hospital for the insane and never restored to competency.@ The Commission is of the opinion that this sentence is not in keeping with current knowledge about people who were once uniformly called Ainsane.@
The Commission has also added, in subsection (b), the requirement that lost or destroyed wills be proved by live testimony in open court, believing that the judge should be able to see the witnesses in such cases in order better to be able to determine their credibility. Finally, a revised version of § 352 of the Probate Code of Guam (1970) has been incorporated as subsection (c) in order to cause Chapter
15 to flow coherently. Substantively, however, subsection (c) is unchanged from prior § 352.