This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Decedent executed a will in November 1989. Her attorney kept the original, and Harrison, the executrix of the estate (P) was given a duplicate original. In March 1991, decedent told her attorney she wanted to revoke the will. Either the attorney or his secretary tore the will into four pieces. The attorney then wrote decedent a letter telling her that he had revoked the will, and enclosing the torn-up pieces. Decedent died in September 1991. The letter from her attorney was found among her effects, but the pieces of the will were not. The probate court granted letters of administration to Bird (D). P subsequently filed the duplicate original of the will for probate. The lower court found that, because the pieces of the will were delivered to decedent, but were not found among her effects after her death, there arose a presumption that decedent had revoked the will.

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