Gregg v. Moore

Citations

• 23 Ohio C.C. Dec. 534
• 14 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 570

Syllabus

<p>1. Incapacity to Make Will is not Shown by Physical Helplessness.</p> <p>The fact that a testator was afflicted with progressive locomotor ataxia and was for a number of years before his death physically unable to perform any task or to help himself in any way, is not cause for setting aside a will, since it appears that during all that time he directed in detail the operations on farms . aggregating over three hundred acres, and with reference to the management of his said lands did all that could have been done by a person of a sound and active mind, and the only testimony tending to show mental incapacity was slight forgetfulness on certain occasions and failure to include in his will certain legacies which be had declared he intended to make.</p> <p>2. Testator's Making Change In Will, Even to Causing Inequal or Inequitable Distribution of Hia Property, does not Support Contention of Undue Influence.</p> <p>Making a change in a will, if done for reasons satisfactory to the testator, is not, standing alone, a sufficient ground for setting aside the instrument for undue influence, notwithstanding ¡ the will as so changed did not, in the opinion of some, make a fair and reasonable distribution of the estate of the testator.</p> <p>8. Propounding Hypothetical Questions to Nonexpert Witnesses Improper in Will Contest.</p> <p>Testimony of nonexpert witnesses, the opinions of which are not based on facts and observations within their own knowledge but on a state of facts submitted to them by hypothetical questions, is incompetent in an action to contest a will.</p> <p>4. Defining Coercion as that Produced by Importunity, or Silent Resistless Power of the Strong Will, Makes Charge Erroneous.</p> <p>To charge a jury in a will contest that “it is coercion produced by importunity, or by a silent, resistless power, which the strong will often exercises over the weak and infirm, so that ■ the motive was tantamount to force or fear,” is erroneous.</p> <p>[Syllabus approved