Seiter's Estate

Citations

• 265 Pa. 202
• 108 A. 614
• 1919 Pa. LEXIS 525

Syllabus

<p>Will — Probate—Loose pieces of paper — Signature at end thereof —Acts of April 8, 1888, P. L. 21/-9, and June 7, 1917, P. L. Jt%5.-</p> <p>1. Under the Act of June 7, 1917, P. L. 409, no questions of the revocation or cancellation of a will can arise, unless it is shown that a perfect will was in existence upon which such question might be founded. Under the Act of June 7, 1917, P. L. 409, that which was once a perfect will must remain such, unless repealed, altered or destroyed in one of the ways designated by the act; a mere direction to destroy, however express, can never amount to a revocation, unless it should be followed by burning, cancelling, obliterating or destroying the will.</p> <p>2. A will may be made on separate piece of paper, but when so made they must be connected by their internal sense, by coherence or ada|)tation of parts, to constitute a will. The order of connection must appear upon the face of the will, it cannot be established by extrinsic evidence; and it must be a will executed as directed by the act of assembly.</p> <p>3. Testator gave to his niece an envelope, saying that it was his will, and that if he died not having asked for it, she should take it to a lawyer. She placed it in a cupboard, where it remained until shortly before testator’s death. Two days after he died she took it to a lawyer. The envelope was unsealed. Inside was another envelope which was sealed, and on which was endorsed the statement that it was testator’s will. This contained four loose and detached papers, having the appearance of having been cut from a will previously made; one of the papers was in form an introduction to a will, another was numbered eight and contained testamentary directions, a third was an attestation clause in usual form and the fourth had the testator’s name written thereon, with names of two other persons. One of these persons admitted that the signature was his; the other person could not be found. There was no evidence that a complete