Keller v. Lawson

Citations

• 261 Pa. 489
• 104 A. 678
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 774

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Testamentary capacity — Issue devisavit vel non — Evidence — Verdict against weight of evidence — Judgment n. o. v.</p> <p>1. On the trial of an issue devisavit vel non tbe trial judge sits as a chancellor and is not bound by the verdict, and should not sustain it when against the manifest weight of the evidence; but when final judgment is entered on the verdict, the Orphans’ Court is concluded thereby.</p> <p>2. In such case the trial judge should consider the entire evidence, and the question is not whether some of the testimony, standing alone, would justify the verdict but whether it would considered as a whole.</p> <p>3. On the trial of an issue devisavit vel non awarded on the ground of alleged testamentary incapacity and undue influence, it appeared that deceased was a woman seventy-three years of age at the time of her death; that during the last twenty-six years of her life she resided with a daughter, the proponent and sole beneficiary under her will; that for the five years prior to her death she was rendered bedfast by paralysis; that another daughter, the contestant, was married, separated from her husband and living in a manner displeasing to her mother; that testatrix sent for- her attorney, who drew her will and it was read to her in the presence of witnesses; that she expressed her satisfaction therewith and sent for her pastor and a neighbor to act as subscribidg witnesses; that owing to her physical disability and at her request the minister wrote her name and then affixed her mark; and that the subscribing witnesses, her family physician, who had attended her for thirty-seven years, and a number of other disinterested witnesses who saw her near the date of the execution of her will, expressed the opinion that she was then of sound mind, memory and understanding. Evidence adduced by the contestant consisted mainly of testimony of a sister of deceased and the sister’s two sons, who testified that at the time of the execution of the will