Higgins v. Nethery

Citations

• 30 Wash. 239
• 70 P. 489
• 1902 Wash. LEXIS 677

Syllabus

<p>WILLS-PROBATE-RESIDENCE OF TESTATOR.</p> <p>Under Bal. Code, § 6087, which provides that wills may be probated and letters granted in the county of which deceased was a resident or had his place of abode at the time of his death, or in the county in which he may have died, leaving estate therein, and not being a resident of the state, or in the county in which any part of his estate may be, he having died out of the state, and not being a resident thereof, the question of the testator’s place of residence is not a jurisdictional fact, and need not be shown in a petition for probate.</p> <p>SAME-CONTEST-BURDEN OP PROOF.</p> <p>Although the order of the court admitting a will to probate is not conclusive of the facts necessary to support it, such as the soundness of mind of the testator and his due execution of the will, yet it makes a prima facie case upholding the validity of the will, and the burden of proof is upon contestants thereof to establish that the testator did not execute it, or that he was of unsound mind, or under undue influence.</p> <p>SAME — MENTAL CAPACITY — NON-EXPERT WITNESSES.</p> <p>The opinions of non-expert witnesses as to the mental condition of a testator are admissible, when it appears that they had known him personally for a long period of time, associated with him and conversed with him on many occasions, and were acquainted with his mental condition about the time the will was made.</p> <p>SAME-EVIDENCE.</p> <p>Evidence of the mental incapacity of a testator at a time long before his will was made would not establish incompetency, where other evidence shows that he was of sound mind prior to, at the time of, and subsequent to the date of the execution of the will.</p>