Betcher v. Brady

Citations

• 52 Wash. 644
• 101 P. 220
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 1170

Syllabus

<p>Appeal — Review—Findings. On trial de novo on appeal of a will contest, findings of the trial court on conflicting evidence are to be reviewed by the supreme court on the record, and will be reversed if erroneous and the evidence is not equally balanced.</p> <p>Wills — Execution—Duress and Undue Influence — Evidence— Sufficiency. The evidence shows that a will in favor of the husband of the testatrix was induced by duress and undue influence, and findings to the contrary will be reversed on trial de novo on appeal, where three disinterested and credible witnesses swore positively to many threats and constant importunities and intimidation upon the part of the husband, within their personal knowledge or related to them by the testatrix, whereby the testatrix, who had suffered a stroke of paralysis and was feeble and in her last sickness, was impelled to will to her husband property recently inherited by her, and which she wished to will to her daughter, her only living heir, because of her husband’s intemperance and the wishes of her deceased son from whom the property was derived, such witnesses being unimpeached and unopposed on essential matters except by the testimony of the husband, who flatly contradicted all of them.</p>