'Initials and signature are traced': Naomi Judd's will questioned by handwriting expert
After details of singer Naomi Judd’s last will was made public, a top forensic handwriting expert has questioned its validity. The findings come as her daughter, Wynonna Judd, contests the will that left complete control of Naomi’s estate to her husband Larry Strickland.
Handwriting expert Peggy Walla of Texas-based LPR Investigations, while speaking to RadarOnline.com, thinks the court might believe Wynonna's claim after finding a half dozen defects in the five-page document filed in a Williamson County Tennessee Probate Court in May 2022. Naomi's other daughter Ashley Judd was also left out of the will.
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Peggy said, “The initials and signature are traced -- they are not written by her,” after the examination of the will which was executed before two witnesses on November 20, 2017. "That means someone put a lighter piece of paper over her regular signature and traced it,” adding, “It doesn’t have fluidity. Usually when you are signing your name – the pen is already in motion when it starts to hit the paper and it gives it a feathered look where these are intentional ‘starts and stops.’”
Naomi died by suicide at the age of 76 after a prolonged battle with mental illness. The will states, “I nominate and appoint my spouse, Larry Strickland, as Executor of my estate.” While Wynonna plans to contests the will, her sister and actress Ashley is said to be siding with Larry.
A family friend told the outlet, “Wynonna has had money problems throughout her adult life,” adding, “She’s blown through every dollar she made with The Judds. She even checked into a treatment facility in 2004 for a ‘money disorder!”
Meanwhile, Peggy, a private investigator, thinks a forensic handwriting expert appointed by the court can easily spot the faults in the will. She pointed three defects in Naomi’s signature alone. Peggy said, “If you look at the top of the O in Naomi – the top of it is cut off and there is no reason why it should be cut off like that.”
Furthermore explaining the signature, the private investigator said, “You and I sign our names every day and we don’t have to think about how to form the letter, or if it looks right, we don’t think about stuff like that.” She added, “The (pen) pressure is the same all the way across – the starting and stops of the initials are blunt instead of feathered – like someone intentionally started and stopped.”
