What is the stated problem? When people who change their wills on their own every few years are careless and do not date their wills, it can lead to the following issues for an executor: "the executor will then often know neither which one of several undated wills is the most recent, nor whether the will drawn up last has ever been found." The solution presented is: "people should not only date their wills but also state in any new will which it supersedes." The conclusion is that if this solution is implemented, "there would not be a problem to begin with."
The solution will help the issue of knowing which of several wills are the most recent, however, it will not help with knowing whether the will drawn up last has ever been found. If the executor has several wills in front of him and they are all dated with a list of which wills it supersedes, it will help him know which of the wills he has is the latest. However, it could be the case that the most recent will is not in his possession. If that were the case, then merely dating and including in any new will which will it supersedes will not aid in knowing which is the most recent.
The solution in the stimulus only helps to solve part of the problem. Therefore, answer choice (A) is correct in describing the solution as a partial solution that is being treated as a complete solution to the problem.
Hope that was helpful! Let us know if you have any other questions.
Ashley-TienJune 28, 2018
When I read the stimulus, I didn't even think about the fact that the executor would not know if he had the most recent will; is there indicator language I am missing out on? I couldn't find anything wrong with the argument.
ChristopherJuly 6, 2018
@ashley-Tien,
The stimulus is in the second sentence. The passage says that the executor will not know which of the undated wills is the most recent or "whether the will drawn up last has ever been found." The conclusion of the passage solves the first problem but doesn't solve the second problem. Thus it is a "partial solution" as (A) says.
