The decedent executed a will in 1992 that left his multi-million dollar estate, after payment of debts and taxes, to his wife if she survived him. If she did not survive the decedent, the will specified that the decedent’s estate was to be equally divided between his two granddaughters in trust for any of the two granddaughters that had not reached age 30 at the date of the decedent’s death and outright to any of the two granddaughters that had reached age 30 at the time of the decedent’s death. If the decedent’s wife pre-deceased him, then the share passing to any of the granddaughters that also predeceased him would pass to that granddaughter’s children or the surviving granddaughter if there were no surviving children. If the spouse and granddaughters did not survive and there were no surviving great grandchildren, the decedent’s estate was to pass to a specifically identified veterinarian. The will did not mention the decedent’s son. At the time of the decedent’s death, only the granddaughters survived, and they were both over age 30. Within two weeks of the decedent’s death, the executor filed a petition to probate the will and start estate administration. Interested parties were provided copies of the will and publication of notice to creditors was made in accordance with state (KS) law. At the subsequent hearing, the magistrate judge admitted the will to probate. The son did not attend the hearing. About six weeks later, the son filed a petition to set aside the order admitting the will to probate, and a year later the trial court rejected the son’s petition, except that the court found that the will was not self-proving and that no evidence had been submitted from the will’s witnesses. Thus, the magistrate’s order was set aside and a new hearing scheduled. The subsequent hearing resulted in the will being admitted to probate. A trial ensued on the son’s challenges to the will, resulting in the court finding that the will was valid and that the property should be distributed to the granddaughters. On appeal, the court affirmed. The court rejected the son’s claim that the will failed because it didn’t describe how the estate should be distributed to the granddaughters and, thus, the bequest failed resulting in an intestate estate that passed entirely to him. The bequest was neither conditional nor unenforceable. The court also rejected the son’s claim that a 1997 will superseded the 1992 will. However, the court determined that argument was sheer speculation and that the existence of a 1997 was not proven. In addition, even if such a will existed, it would not automatically revoke the 1992 will. The son’s procedural attacks on the validity of the will also failed. The court held that the lack of obtaining an order from the trial court confirming the initial hearing date was not fatal and that filing the petition to probate the will was sufficient to avoid the six-month time bar. While the filing of the affidavit of service did not occur until after the hearing to probate the will, such late filing, the court held, does not operate to bar the will from admission to probate. The son received actual notice of the hearing. Accordingly, upheld the trial court’s order admitting the will to probate and the ordering of the distribution of the estate to the granddaughters. In re Estate of Rickabaugh, No. 111,389, 2015 Kan. App. LEXIS 61 (Kan. Ct. App. Sept. 11, 2015).