Sheaffer's Estate

Citations

• 240 Pa. 83
• 87 A. 577
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 635

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Probate—Issue devisavit vel non — Mutilated, paper.</p> <p>1. A decree of the Orphans’ Court refusing an issue devisavit vel non, and affirming the admission of a writing to probate, will not be reversed where it is uncontroverted that the testator, possessing full testamentary capacity, executed the paper as his will in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, that shortly before his death he designated a box as the place where his will would be found, that after his death the will was found by the executor named therein in the place designated, with the first page tom off, and that after the statement made by the testator as to the place where he kept his will, neither he nor any one else had opened the box until after his death,</p> <p>2. In such a ease it is for the court to determine whether the writing was a valid testamentary paper. If it determines this question in the affirmative, questions as to whether all the provisions in the will are enforceable in view of the destruction of the first page, will be considered in later proceedings.</p>