Canfield v. Barnes

Citations

• 234 Pa. 528
• 83 A. 403
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 682

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Issue devisavit vel non — Undue influence — Evidence • — Insufficient evidence to sustain verdict.</p> <p>A verdict against a will in an issue devisavit vel non where undue influence is alleged, will be set aside, where the evidence shows that the testator, a man sixty three years old when he died, made his will in favor of his second wife more than a year before his death and six years after his second marriage; that the will was executed in testator’s own privacy, and remained in his exclusive control to within a few days of his death; that testa1or was a man of unusual intelligence and superior judgment; that although he drank liquor as a habit, he was not under its influence when his will was made nor had it weakened his will power; that he lived happily with his second wife who had con•fributed to his comfort and happiness; that the wife had not attempted to influence her husband against his children by his-first wife; and that evidence of a meretricious relation between the testator and the second wife during his first wife’s lifetime was admitted, and given an undue weight by the trial judge in his charge to the jury.</p>