Kelty v. Burgess

Citations

• 84 Kan. 678
• 115 P. 583
• 1911 Kan. LEXIS 397

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Wills — “Principal” Beneficiary — Interpretation of Statute. Section 9787 of the General Statutes of 1909, requiring certain affirmative proof to establish the validity of a will written or prepared by a person occupying a confidential relation to the testator and who is the sole or principal beneficiary in the will, applies to the single case of a will written or prepared by a person in a confidential relation to the testator who receives the whole or the most considerable portion of the estate devised. The statute can not be interpreted as if it read “the sole or one of the principal beneficiaries in the will.”</p> <p>2. - Relative Importance of Beneficiaries’ Shares. In determining whether or not a person is the principal beneficiary in a will the relative importance of his share to the individual shares of other beneficiaries and to the whole estate should be considered.</p> <p>•3. - Chief Devisee — “Principal Beneficiary.” In this case it is held that a person who received more than five-sevenths of the estate devised is the principal beneficiary of a will, and that a person occupying a confidential relation to the testator who assisted in preparing the will and who received less than one-seventh of the estate devised is not such beneficiary.</p>