Matter of Estate of Gonzales

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• concluding that a beneficiary could not be said to have participated in procuring a will when his actions were not necessary to prove due execution
• observing that the testator “was elderly and sick, but this is not unusual or reason to cause suspicion”
• suspicious circumstances without a showing of effect on mental ability insufficient to create a presumption of undue influence
• “If the proponent does not meet this burden, the contestant’s evidence might require a finding of undue influence.”
• “No New Mexico case has based a presumption of undue influence on the fact that the testator was elderly without evidence that the testator’s age had affected his or her mental ability.”
• “None of the individual circumstances surrounding the execution of decedent’s will is sufficient to raise a presumption of undue influence. That leaves the question of whether a presumption of undue influence arises when the trial court’s findings are considered as a whole.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).