The Berkeley County Commission on Sept. 18 approved the admission of several wills to probate in solemn form and removed the sheriff's office as personal representative in one contested estate, the county clerk's office said during the estates portion of the meeting.
County staff presented three matters seeking probate in solemn form: the last will and testament of Dorothy Lee McDaniel, presented by the decedent's daughter Ginny Whip; the will of Jacqueline Kate Clayton, presented by petitioner and named executrix Blanche Meister; and the will of Peter J. Broeken, presented by his son, Ronald Andrew Broeken. In each case staff recommended probate in solemn form because the wills were either unlocated originals or unattested copies and the petitioners invoked the statutory procedures available under West Virginia law.
Commissioners moved, seconded and approved accepting those documents into probate in solemn form during the meeting.
The commission also addressed a more complex matter involving the estate of Jesse Edward Schisler III. County staff said the sheriff's office had opened an estate after creditors, including a bank, asked the sheriff to do so. A will later was filed; the named executor in that will, Andrew Michael Dash, had not filed the will with the clerk in a timely way and the sheriff had been administering the estate in the interim. The will disinherits one son, Jesse Edward Schisler IV, but staff reported that Schisler IV has recorded documents assigning the executor's interest to him. The son petitioned to remove the sheriff's office as personal representative and asked to have another party appointed with an adequate bond.
County staff said the sheriff's office did not object to its removal. The commission moved and seconded an order to remove the sheriff as personal representative and instructed staff that any replacement would be accepted so long as the new personal representative furnished an adequate bond; staff said it would prepare a pointed order by the end of business that day.
The clerk's presentation noted that West Virginia statute treats unlocated originals and unattested wills differently and that petitioners may seek probate in solemn form when attestation or the original document is not available. Commissioners approved the probate requests and the order to remove the sheriff as requested by staff.