McDaniel v. Pattison

Citations

• 98 Cal. 86
• 32 P. 805
• 1893 Cal. LEXIS 865

Syllabus

<p>Equity Jurisdiction—Establishment 02? Lost or Spoliated Will—Exclusive Jurisdiction op Probate Court.—The jurisdiction of the probate court to establish a will is exclusive, even though the will has been lost or destroyed, or has been fraudulently suppressed; and a court of equity has no jurisdiction to grant relief in such a case, either directly or as incident to jurisdiction over other matters, even though the relief is sought by an alleged devises against tlie spoliator, and it appears that the latter is one of the two witnesses whose testimony would be necessary to prove the will under section 1339 of the Code of Civil Procedure.</p> <p>Id. — Cancellation op Deeds op Decedent at Suit op Devisees—Right op Heirs —Amendment op Complaint.—A complaint which seeks to annul and cancel certain deeds made by a decedent in his life-time, on the ground that they were fraudulently altered by the defendant so as to include all of the deceased grantor’s property, and to have the property so fraudulently included in the deed declared vested in the complainants, and which alleges that the plaintiffs are heirs-at-law of the decedent, and also,devisees under his last will and testament, which, it is alleged, had been fraudulently destroyed or suppressed by one of the defendants, and never probated, fails to state a cause of action, and a decree vesting title to the property, according to the alleged provisions of the will, will be reversed upon appeal, with liberty to amend the complaint by asserting only the rights of plaintiffs as heirs.</p>