Estate of Mahoney

Citations

• 6 Coffey 1

Syllabus

<p>Will—Testamentary Capacity—Intemperance and Improvidence.—A man may be greatly given to the use and abuse of liquor and yet be competent to make a will. He may be incompetent to manage an estate by reason of intemperance and improvidence and yet retain sufficient capacity for testamentary disposition.</p> <p>Will — Testamentary Capacity — Dissipation and Intoxication.—No rule of law denies to a man who is dissipated and habitually addicted to the excessive indulgence in intoxicants the right to make a will.</p> <p>Will—Testamentary Capacity.—The Habitual Use of Intoxicating Liquors, long continued and indulged in to excess, even though resulting in temporary fits of insanity or delirium tremens, does not alone raise a presumption of testamentary incapacity, if it appears that the testator was sufficiently sober when executing the will to know what he was doing, and that' he was not unduly influenced. Nor need he be shown to have been wholly sober at the instant of the execution of the will if it is proved that he was sufficiently so to understand the character and eSeet of his act, the extent of his property and the nature of the claims of his kin, and be able to act of his own will.</p> <p>Will—Intoxication of Testator.—In Order to Vitiate the Act, the testator, at the time of executing the paper, must have been under the influence of intoxicating liquors and to such an extent as to disorder Ms faculties and prevent Ms judgment.</p> <p>Will—Undue Influence.—The Fact of Drunkenness when the will was executed is relevant- upon the question of undue influence.</p> <p>Will—Testamentary Capacity—Lucid Intervals.—In Cases of Temporary Delirium, arising from the excessive use of stimulants, where no question of fixed and mental unsoundness is involved, the doctrine of lucid intervals does- not apply.</p> <p>Will—Intoxication of Testator—Burden of Proof.—Though the testator may have, when under the influence of liquor, acted like a maniac, still, if when subsequently so