Boehm v. Kress

Citations

• 179 Pa. 386
• 36 A. 226
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 651

Syllabus

<p>Will — Issue devisavit v el non — Evidence—Province of court and jury.</p> <p>A writing, having the form and substance of a will and drawn with the strictest formality as to matters customarily inserted in wills, was executed by a childless widower in favor of his brother. It was signed, sealed and witnessed as and for a last will and testament. He had expressed a desire to close his house and live with his brother, on whose kindness and attention he might become dependent. He sent for the scrivener on the day the will was written, requesting him to bring testator’s brother, the principal beneficiary, with him. When they came he stated what disposition of his property he wanted to make. His brother, after suggesting that the provisions of the will should be less favorable to himself, left the room. Testator stated in reply to the scrivener that he did not wish to have anything inserted in the will as to his living with his brother and being supported by him, and that his conversation on the subject had nothing to do with the wilh The will was read in the presence of testator, first in English, and then translated line by line into German, the language which the testator best understood. It was claimed that the writing was not a will, but was an agreement for support, intended to take effect presently. The witnesses for contestant were obscure in their statements, and failed to distinguish between general conversations which took place before and after the will was written, and the distinct and specific directions as to what it was to contain. The jury found a verdict for defendants and found specifically that testator had full testamentary capacity, and was subjected to no undue influence, but that he did not have a full understanding of the nature of the writing and of 'the disposition of the -property which it contained; and that he did not execute it with the understanding and purpose that it should be his last will, but that it should take effect presently. H