In contested cases, petitioners who seek to establish intestacy have the burden of establishing prima facie proof of death, venue, and heirship. Proponents of a will have the burden of establishing prima facie proof of due execution, death, testamentary capacity, and venue. Contestants of a will have the burden of establishing undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake or revocation. Parties have the ultimate burden of persuasion as to matters with respect to which they have the initial burden of proof. If a will is opposed by the petition for probate of a later will revoking the former, it shall be determined first whether the later will is entitled to probate, and if a will is opposed by a petition for a declaration of intestacy, it shall be determined first whether the will is entitled to probate.
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2431
Formal testacy proceedings; burdens in contested cases
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case Achterberg v. Farmers State Bank & Trust Co. (1982)
Most recently applied in In re Estate of Walker (October 2025)
Laws 1974, LB 354, § 109, UPC § 3-407.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Nebraska Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Nebraska statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.