Fuller's Estate

Citations

• 222 Pa. 182
• 70 A. 1005
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 676

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Issue devisavit vel non — Probate—Refusal of issue — Evidence— Handwriting — Expert.</p> <p>An issue devisavit vel non will not be granted where a verdict against the will on the evidence submitted would have to be immediately set aside by a trial judge. This rule applies not only to an application for an issue on the ground of lack of testamentary capacity or undue influence, but also to a case where the testimony of two expert witnesses in handwriting is practically all that is opposed to positive proof of the execution of the will or the evidence of a cloud of witnesses, familiar for years with the handwriting of the deceased, that the signature is genuine.</p> <p>Experts are received to testify whether a writing is a real or a feigned hand, and may compare it with other writings already in evidence in the issue; but upon this kind of evidence very little, if any, reliance ought to be placed.</p>