Armor's Estate

Citations

• 154 Pa. 517
• 26 A. 619
• 1893 Pa. LEXIS 928

Syllabus

<p>Will — Issue devisavit vel non — Undue influence — Evidence.</p> <p>Where the court has granted an issue devisavit vel non on the question of testamentary capacity, an issue should also be granted on the question of undue influence, where there is evidence that the decedent, a woman over ninety years of age, was of feeble mind, that she had granted a power of attorney to the proponent under which he had managed her affairs and under which he claimed that he had a right to indicate to her the disposition of her property, and the will showed that the share of proponent’s wife was left to her absolutely, while the shai’es of all of the other heirs was given to proponent in trust to hold for their lifetime. The evidence tending to show mental incapacity is so blended with that offered to show undue influence that it is impossible to separate the conclusions. Wilson’s Ap., 99 Pa. 545, applied.</p> <p>Confidential relation — Undue influence — Presumption.</p> <p>Where a testator, although possessed of testamentary capacity, is aged, infirm bodily, with mental faculties impaired, if a confidential adviser be largely a beneficiary under the will, there is a presumption of fact that undue influence was brought to bear on the mind of the testator, and the burden is on the beneficiary to rebut this presumption: Wilson v. Mitchell, 101 Pa. 495.</p>