Smith's Estate

Citations

• 250 Pa. 67
• 95 A. 338

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Issue devisavit vel non — Alleged mental incapacity of testator — Undue influence — Evidence—Refusal of issue.</p> <p>1. An issue devisavit vel non will not be granted on the ground of impaired mental faculties where the testimony in support of the issue goes no further than to show that the testator was a man abnormal in his tastes and habits, eccentric as to his walk, carriage and behaviour at table, high pitched as to voice, possessed of collections of indecent pictures, which he seemed to take pleasure in showing, and degenerate in his desires and inclinations, and where it affirmatively appears that up to the time of his death he was capable of transacting his affairs, involving the overseeing of a large estate, nearly all of which was invested.</p> <p>2. Where in such a case the will contains a large bequest to a beneficiary, not of the family of the testator, and a provision making the scrivener of the will executor and residuary legatee, an issue devisavit vel non will not be granted on the ground of undue influence where it appears that such beneficiary was not present when the will and codicils were either drafted or executed, and did not know the scrivener at the time, and there is no evidence to show that he ever did unduly influence the decedent, and it further appears that the scrivener was chosen executor and residuary legatee by the testator as a voluntary and unsolicited act incidental to the making of the willand neither the testator or the scrivener knew that the residue would he a substantial amount</p>