McWilliams' Estate

Citations

• 259 Pa. 526
• 103 A. 365
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 445

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Validity—Alleged alteration — Handwriting experts — Absence of corroboration — Weight—Petition for issue d. v. n. — Refusal.</p> <p>1. After direct evidence has been given on the subject of handwriting, the evidence of experts is admissible in corroboration, but the evidence of experts, without the support of other evidence, is insufficient to attack the validity of a document.</p> <p>2. Where a petition for an issue devisavit vel non alleged that the last paragraph of the will had been added thereto after the execution thereof by testator and without his knowledge or consent, but where tbe scrivener of the will testified that he wrote the entire will with the exception of the signature of the testator and the witnesses, in the presence of the testator and the subscribing witnesses, and where the only evidence in behalf of the contestants was that of handwriting experts, who testified that the paragraph in controversy was not in their opinion written with the same pen and ink as the other portions of the will, the court made no error in dismissing the petition.</p>