Wright's Estate

Citations

• 202 Pa. 395
• 51 A. 1031
• 1902 Pa. LEXIS 529

Syllabus

<p>Will — Issue devisavit vel non — Evidence—Testamentary capacity.</p> <p>On an application for an issue devisavit vel non, a conveyancer who had known the testator for many years, testified that in January, 1895, the testator called, unattended by any one, at his office, and requested him to draw his will. His directions were clear, and embraced gifts of various pieces of real estate, each of which he described, to his three sisters, and a gift of the residue of his estate to one of the sisters. The will was drawn, and, after a slight phange, which he himself suggested, was read over by the testator and approved by him, and it was then signed by him in the presence of the conveyancer and his son, both of whom testified, to the testator’s entire testamentary capacity. The will was deposited by the testator in his box at a trust company, and remained there until his death five years afterwards. A large number of witnesses on the part of the proponent declared that before and after 1895, the testator was of sound mind; received and receipted for rents, drew cheeks and made deposits; visited his friends and conversed intelligently. The various checks which were offered in evidence and the will itself, in each of which the signature of the decedent was bold and clear, bore out these assertions. The sister who received the residue of the estate managed the decedent’s household affairs until his death. The contestants offered testimony to the effect that testator was untidy in his dress, that he was filthy in his use of tobacco, that he drank on an average a quart of whiskey daily, carried bottles of liquor in his pockets, and even took them at night into his bed, that he was eccentric in this that he shook hands with people whom he did not know, wept copiously, especially when he witnessed a play at the theatre and talked more or less ramblingly. The dates assigned for these various occurrences were vague and conjectural. Held, that an issue was properly refused.</p>