KAPSNER, Justice.
[¶ 1] Margaret Oakland appeals from a judgment dismissing her objection to the probate of the will of her father, John T. Gassmann, after a jury found she failed to establish his will was the product of an insane delusion and from an order denying her motion for a new trial. Oakland argues the district court erred in excluding relevant evidence at trial and the court did not adequately address issues raised in her motion for new trial. We affirm.
[¶ 2] Oakland is Gassmann's only biological child. She graduated from high school in 1991, and her parents separated around that time and subsequently divorced after Gassmann experienced incidents in which he believed his wife and others were involved in a conspiracy to poison him for his farmland. In the divorce proceeding, a psychiatric and psychological evaluation by a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist diagnosed Gassmann with a "delusional disorder."
[¶ 3] According to Oakland, Gassmann believed Oakland's mother was using Oakland to facilitate the poisoning conspiracy and her relationship with Gassmann was permanently and deleteriously altered by his insane delusions, which continued until his death. Oakland claimed Gassmann insisted she stop all communications with her mother, but she refused and Gassmann thereafter distanced himself from her because of the poisoning conspiracy. According to Oakland, Gassmann would have devised his farmland to her but for his insane delusion.
[¶ 4] According to Bell State Bank & Trust, Gassmann was misdiagnosed with a delusional disorder in the 1993 divorce, but actually suffered from a brain tumor and related acromegaly, and he had the tumor removed in 1995. According to Bell State, Gassmann's symptoms disappeared after the surgery, but his relationship with Oakland remained distant and disconnected because Gassmann did not approve of her decisions about education, employment, and marriage.
[¶ 5] After divorcing Oakland's mother, Gassmann began a relationship with Bonnie Bowman, which lasted until his death in February 2012, and he developed a close relationship with her three children. On December 6, 2011, Gassmann executed a will after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Gassmann's estate plan devised certain property to Oakland and his will operated with a revocable living trust to devise his interest in his family's farmland to other individuals, including some of Bowman's children.
[¶ 6] Gassmann died in February 2012, and Bell State petitioned for formal probate of his will and for appointment as his personal representative under the will. Oakland objected to the probate of Gassmann's will, claiming he executed the will under an insane delusion. Oakland challenged the validity of Gassmann's revocable living trust in a separate action, but that action was dismissed as untimely. See Oakland v. Bowman, 2013 ND 217, ¶ ¶ 1, 12, 840 N.W.2d 88 (affirming dismissal of Oakland's untimely objection to revocable trust). Oakland thereafter moved to amend her objection to the probate of Gassmann's will to include an objection to the revocable living trust, and the district court denied her motion.
[¶ 7] Oakland initially retained counsel to contest Gassmann's will, but she subsequently represented herself. Before a scheduled jury trial, Bell State filed several motions in limine, including motions to exclude evidence, testimony, comment, or reference at trial to Gassmann's military experience, his belief that Oakland was not his biological daughter, his statements relating to his mental state after he executed the December 2011 will, his remote statements in the 1990s relating to the poisoning conspiracy, and his statements evidencing his mental state which were not related to the poisoning conspiracy. Bell State also sought to exclude evidence about Gassmann's amendments to his revocable living trust after he executed his December 2011 will, and his nonprobate transfers of property. Bell State generally claimed the evidence identified in the motions in limine was not relevant under
[¶ 8] The district court granted Bell State's motions in limine, but generally informed Oakland the motions could be revisited in the context of the evidence presented at trial, including the parties' experts' opinions about the symptoms of Gassmann's alleged insane delusion. The court advised Oakland it did not then know the extent of the experts' testimony about Gassmann's alleged insane delusion and would allow her to introduce evidence covered by the motions in limine to the extent her experts relied on that evidence to conclude Gassmann was suffering from an insane delusion. A jury returned a verdict finding Oakland failed to establish Gassmann's will was the product of an insane delusion, and the district court thereafter denied her motion for a new trial.
[¶ 9] Under N.D.C.C. § 30.1-15-07, a party contesting a will has the burden of proving lack of testamentary capacity. Matter of Estate of Aune, 478 N.W.2d 561, 564 (N.D.1991). Whether a testator was suffering from an insane delusion which materially affected a will is a question of fact. Id. A will contestant must establish a will was the product of the insane delusion and the testator, if not laboring under the insane delusion, would have devised the property differently. Id.
[¶ 10] An insane delusion is a belief in facts that no rational person would believe, not founded upon evidence, and not removable by evidence. Aune, 478 N.W.2d at 564; Matter of Estate of Flaherty, 446 N.W.2d 760, 765 (N.D.1989). In Flaherty, this Court "distinguish[ed] between mistaken beliefs not produced by mental illness, simply because they are based on evidence which is incomplete or misleading, and those irrational false beliefs produced by a mental illness," explaining:
446 N.W.2d at 765 (quoting 1 Bowe-Parker: Page on Wills § 12.29, p. 631 (1960)).
[¶ 11] Oakland argues the district court abused its discretion in granting and partially upholding Bell State's motions in limine to exclude broad categories of probative circumstantial evidence of Gassmann's mental illness. She argues the court erred in granting five overlapping motions in limine excluding: (1) Gassmann's "remote" statements in the 1990s relating to the claimed poisoning conspiracy; (2) Gassmann's "post-will" statements relating to his mental state after executing the December 2011 will; (3) Gassmann's statements evidencing his mental state which were not related to the poisoning conspiracy; (4) Gassmann's belief that Oakland was not his biological daughter; and (5) evidence of Gassmann's military experience. On appeal, Oakland claims the court's rulings on the motions in limine precluded her from introducing deposition testimony of Gassmann's sister, Jo Anne Dalhoff, and testimony of Gassmann's nephew, David Bonello. She claims Dalhoff's excluded testimony provided a succinct
[¶ 12] We review Oakland's arguments in the context of the evidentiary rules for relevancy and the procedural posture of a motion in limine. Under N.D.R.Ev. 401, relevant evidence means evidence that reasonably and actually tends to prove or disprove any fact that is of consequence to the determination of an action. Relevant evidence is generally admissible. N.D.R.Ev. 402. A district court has discretion to determine whether evidence is relevant, and its decision will not be overturned on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. Williston Farm Equip., Inc. v. Steiger Tractor, Inc., 504 N.W.2d 545, 548-49 (N.D.1993). However, relevant evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. N.D.R.Ev. 403. A district court has discretion to balance the probative value of proffered evidence against the dangers enumerated in N.D.R.Ev. 403, and we also review that determination under the abuse-of-discretion standard. Williston Farm Equip., at 549.
[¶ 13] A motion in limine is a procedural tool to ensure that potentially prejudicial evidentiary matters are not discussed in the presence of the jury. Williston Farm Equip., 504 N.W.2d at 550; Shark v. Thompson, 373 N.W.2d 859, 864 (N.D.1985). The pre-trial exclusion of evidence by a motion in limine, however, is a preliminary order regarding the admissibility of evidence and does not dispense with the need for the proponent of evidence to make an offer of proof at trial so the district court can consider the proffered evidence in the context of other evidence presented during trial. In re Rubey, 2013 ND 190, ¶ 7, 838 N.W.2d 446; Nesvig v. Nesvig, 2006 ND 66, ¶ 31, 712 N.W.2d 299; Williston Farm Equip., at 550. In the absence of an offer of proof about the substance of the excluded evidence, our review is limited. In Rubey, at ¶ 7; Williston Farm Equip., at 550. A self-represented litigant is held to the same procedural rules as litigants represented by counsel, and "we do not apply statutes or rules differently when a party is self-represented." Schwab v. Zajac, 2012 ND 239, ¶ 20, 823 N.W.2d 737 (quoting Mills v. City of Grand Forks, 2012 ND 56, ¶ 15, 813 N.W.2d 574).
[¶ 14] When the district court ruled on Bell State's motions in limine, the court explained it did not then know the extent of the parties' experts' testimony regarding Gassmann's alleged insane delusion and the court explicitly informed Oakland its rulings depended on that testimony. In addressing Bell State's motion in limine about Gassmann's statements relating to his mental state after his will was executed, the court generally explained its rationale for provisionally granting the motion:
[¶ 15] At trial, Oakland's experts testified Gassmann's insane delusion existed until his death. The report of one of Oakland's experts, Psychiatrist Michael Farnsworth, provided:
[¶ 16] At trial, the district court admitted some evidence of Gassmann's statements from the 1990s about a poisoning conspiracy. Oakland, however, made no offer of proof about other remote statements excluded by the court, and in the absence of an appropriate offer of proof, we are unable to review her claim the court erred in excluding remote evidence of his alleged insane delusion.
[¶ 17] At trial, Oakland was permitted to testify about statements made to her by Gassmann in a January 22, 2012, conversation with him. Oakland, however, made no other offers of proof about other evidence indicating Gassmann's state of mind near the time when he executed his will. Before trial, the parties addressed Dalhoff's deposition testimony and the court ruled on objections made during the taking of that deposition. The record reflects, however, the court did not then review the entire contents of Dalhoff's deposition and Oakland made no offer of proof about the deposition at trial. Moreover, although Oakland claims Bonello attended the trial, she made no offer of proof about his proposed testimony at trial.
[¶ 19] Oakland argues the district court erred in excluding evidence of amendments to Gassmann's revocable trust made after the will was executed, which she claims showed how Gassmann's will disposed of his property. She claims Gassmann amended the revocable trust two times after he executed his will on December 6, 2011, and evidence of the beneficiaries under those amendments was relevant to show the ultimate disposition of his property under the will.
[¶ 20] At trial, Oakland sought to elicit testimony from the attorney who drafted Gassmann's December 2011 will and the following colloquy occurred:
[¶ 21] Oakland failed to make a timely challenge to the revocable trust. See Oakland, 2013 ND 217, ¶ ¶ 1, 12, 840 N.W.2d 88 (affirming dismissal of Oakland's untimely objection to revocable trust). Moreover, Oakland acquiesced in the court's ruling about the beneficiaries under the revocable trust and failed to make a formal offer of proof on the beneficiaries under the amendments to the revocable trust to preserve the issue for appellate review. We conclude Oakland failed to preserve this issue for appellate review.
[¶ 22] Oakland argues the district court abused its discretion in excluding evidence of Gassmann's nonprobate transfers to Bowman's family while allowing Bell State to introduce evidence of his nonprobate transfers to Oakland. In provisionally granting Bell State's motion in limine to exclude evidence of Gassmann's lifetime transfers of land to Bowman or her children, the court advised Oakland it would revisit the issue during trial if there was evidence Gassmann would have devised the land differently but for the alleged insane delusion. At trial, Oakland did not make an appropriate offer of proof on this issue, and she did not preserve this issue for appellate review.
[¶ 23] Oakland argues the district court failed to adequately address issues raised in her motion for new trial. A district court's denial of a motion for a new trial is reviewed under the abuse-of-discretion standard. Rittenour v. Gibson, 2003 ND 14, ¶ 13, 656 N.W.2d 691. Oakland's motion for a new trial raised many of the same issues raised in her appeal, and we conclude the court's denial of her motion was not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable. We conclude the court did not abuse its discretion in denying her motion for a new trial.
[¶ 24] We affirm the judgment and the order denying Oakland's motion for a new trial.
[¶ 25] GERALD W. VANDE WALLE, C.J., LISA FAIR McEVERS, DALE V. SANDSTROM and DANIEL J. CROTHERS, JJ., concur.