Keating's Appeal

Citations

• 2 Monag. 4
• 17 A. 207
• 1889 Pa. LEXIS 1391

Syllabus

<p>On the hearing of a petition for an issue devisavit vel non, under ? 41 of the Act of March 15, 1832, P. L. 146, the contestants offered evidence to show that the decedent, when he executed the alleged will, was over eighty years of age, and, both before and after the execution of the instrument, was very intemperate, almost daily intoxicated ; subject to hallucinations ; forgot the condition of his wife who was an invalid ; on one occasion denied that he had a sister, from whom he received a letter ; failed to recognize his nurse ; desired to sell valuable real estate to the stable boy, insisting that the boy had abundance of means with which to purchase, when in fact he had no money or property whatever ; denied the ownership of real estate belonging to him; allowed valuable securities to lie around loose, when previously he was noted for his vigilance and strict business habits ; and insisted that he had a large sum of money in bank when in fact he had only about one-third of that sum. The evidence of the contestants did not connect these acts with the execution of the instrument, and further showed that the decedent had, for a long time, had under consideration the making of the will, and numerous facts were given showing an intelligent comprehension of the matters embraced by the alleged will. The court refused an issue. Held, not to be error.</p> <p>Query, whether a question, put to an expert witness, based upon a hypothetical case, which contains only a partial statement of the material facts embodied in the testimony, should be excluded, on a hearing in the orphans’ court.</p> <p>In this case, the burden of proof was not shifted so as to make it necessary to offer evidence of the absence of undue influence, by the fact that the decedent made a stranger in blood, who occupied a confidential relation to him, his executor, and allowed him $1,000 a year for twenty years, for his services, in addition to the customary commissions.</p>