In re Estate of Blais

                                ENTRY ORDER

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 89-009

                            NOVEMBER TERM, 1990


In re Estate of                   }          APPEALED FROM:
Raymond A. Blais                  }
                                  }
                                  }          Washington Superior Court
                                  }
                                  }
                                  }
                                  }          DOCKET NO. S533-87WnCa


             In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:

   The requirement of signatures of three attesting witnesses for a valid
will under 14 V.S.A. { 5 is in accord with the United States Constitution,
which leaves to the states to determine the requirements for testamentary
transfers.  United States v. Fox, 94 U.S. 315, 321 (1876).  The requirement
of three witnesses, though less common than the requirement of two, is a
matter of legislative, not judicial, concern.  See In re Wilson's Estate,
___ N.H. ___, ___, 402 A.2d 197, 198 (1979).

     Affirmed.






                                   BY THE COURT:



                                   Frederic W. Allen, Chief Justice


                                   Ernest W. Gibson III, Associate Justice


[ ]  Publish                       John A. Dooley, Associate Justice

[ ]  Do Not Publish
                                   James L. Morse, Associate Justice


                                   Louis P. Peck, Associate Justice (Ret.),
                                   Specially Assigned