Baum's Estate

Citations

• 260 Pa. 33
• 103 A. 614
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 464

Syllabus

<p>Jurisdiction, 0. G. — Wills—Probate—Date of wills — Register of wills court — Jurisdiction.</p> <p>1. The jurisdiction of the Orphans’ Court is limited. It possesses none inherently and exercises such only as is conferred or implied from legislation.</p> <p>2. However inoperative a will may he with respect to some of its provisions, if executed in accordance with the requirements of the Statute and the testator he of testamentary capacity, it is nevertheless a valid will.</p> <p>3. The essentials of a valid will, that is a will entitled to probate, are, first, that it be executed according to statutory requirements and, second, that it be the free act of one having a sound and disposing mind, memory and understanding. These are purely questions of fact and are proper matters of inquiry before the register. When they affirmatively appear, the right to have the paper admitted to probate has been fully established.</p> <p>4. The register of wills has no jurisdiction to determine in the first instance the date when a will was executed, and, therefore, he has no jurisdiction to affect the rights of a child of testator by determining whether or not the will was executed prior to or after the birth of such child.</p> <p>5. The Orphans’ Oourt has no jurisdiction to determine the date of the execution of a will, on appeal from a decree of the register of wills fixing the date of the execution of such will.</p> <p>6. On appeal from a decree of the register of wills, admitting a will to probate, it appeared that testator had made a will bearing date August 2, 1911, that testator 'died January 17, 1916. The register of wills found that said will was executed August 2, 1911, and admitted it to probate. Testator was survived by a widow and a son who was born January 15, 1912. On appeal from the register’s decree the Orphans’ Oourt, after a hearing, found that the will was executed on August 3, 1912, and directed that the probate of the will as of August 2, 1911, be revoked, an