52 N.J. Eq. 801 | N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. | 1894
Pierre Arnault, who had been a successful wine merchant in the city of New York, died at his residence in Jersey City, on the 30th day of December, 1891, leaving him surviving, as the legitimate claimants upon his bounty, a widow and two children by a former wife, from which former wife, according to the testimony of his widow, he was divorced • one child, a daughter, Clothide by name, who is now married and a resident in Switzerland, and the other, a son, named Isaac, who died after his father, leaving a widow; and also those to whom the disputed paper gives his estate — Elise Strassheim, who lived with him as his wife for the last eleven years of his life, and her daughter by him, Adele, now about thirteen years of age.
The estate he left consisted of some household furniture and his wine business in the city of New York, valued together, as counsel agreed at the argument, at five or six thousand dollars.
The will names Elise Strassheim as “Elise Strassheim Arnault,” styles her as Arnault’s wife and bequeaths and devises to her all his property save $5,000, which she is directed to hold in trust and pay with interest, at five per cent, per annum, to the child, Adele, when she shall reach the age of twenty-one years.
The proofs afford little insight to the life of Mr. Arnault prior to his marriage with the respondent.
It appears that he had a former wife, the mother of his children, Clothide and Isaac, from whom he had separated, and that the two children resided with him in New York when he first met the respondent.
The probate of the will is resisted, upon the ground that it is-the product of undue influence exerted by Elise Strassheim.
In support of this contention some evidence has been offered to show that, years before the will was executed, Arnault was-subject to nervous and epileptic fits, and had suffered three sun-strokes, which so affected him that he became nervous, irritable and erratic. This evidence is vague, and far from satisfactory. But whatever its character may be, it is effectually overcome by the evidence upon the part of the respondent, which establishes beyond question that, although Arnault was of excitable temperament, he possessed a clear and strong mind, capable of the-successful management of an extensive business until a short tíme before his death. The latter evidence comes from Arnault’slawyer, his family physician, his employes and business cotemporaries with whom he continually dealt, and abundantly proves-that he was not either mentally or physically an apt subject for that control which must exist to destroy free agency and constrain the person whose act is brought in question to do that which is against his will and what he would not have done if left to himself, or, in other words, an apt subject for undue-influence.
It can scarcely be doubted, after an examination of this case,, that Mr. Arnault sincerely loved Elise Strassheim, or that that love had its influence over him. His voluntary life with the-woman for eleven years exhibits the potency of that influence. I do not doubt that his love for her and her child produced the will in question, but I fail to find any proof that Elise exerted' her influence directly in the procuration of the will. On the contrary, the evidence is, as hereafter appears, that the will was-not directly or indirectly her act, but exclusively his own.
Every will is the product of some influence. The influence which arises from legitimate family and social relations comes-
It is a modifying circumstance in the relation existing between Arnault and Elise Strassheim, which is to be regarded in a suspicious scrutiny of this case, that their life together, at least when the will was made, partook more of the connubial than the meretricious character. She was introduced by him as his wife, and in her conduct assumed the part of a virtuous and affectionate wife. He recognized her child as his, and permitted it to call him “ papa.” That the family relation existed with her and her child is well demonstrated by the language of his announcement of his will to her — “Mamma, here is a piece of paper for you.”
Elise Strassheim testifies that she did not know anything about the will until after it was executed, and Mr. Arnault brought it home and gave it to her, with the remark already quoted, “ Mamma, here is a piece of paper for you.” She says' that then she looked at it sufficiently to see that it was endorsed as his will, and threw it upon the table, saying that she did not want it, her meaning being that she preferred to have him live than to die and leave a will in her favor. She says that he then took it up and put it in his safe among other papers, where, after his death, she found it. She says, also, that he had repeatedly before then told her that he had no one to look out for but Adele and herself.
Under the circumstances of the case, this will does not appear to me to be one which should be charactewcd as wholly inofficious or unnatural. It is clear that the testator had no affection for the respondent. He tried to rid himself of her by divorce, and, failing in that, procured from her an agreement that she would stay away from him as long as he paid her a weekly sum,, and he punctiliously paid her that sum and kept her away, until he died. His daughter had married and gone to Europe to live. His son had grown to manhood. His estate was small. In this situation he bestowed the bulk of it upon the bastard child whom he loved, and who, through his act, must bear reproach as long as she lives, and gave the small remainder to her who>
As I have said, I do not find any evidence to establish the exertion of undue influence in the production of this will. On the contrary, the evidence makes it clear that the instrument was the product of Mr. Arnault’s spontaneous act. Observing the formalities which the law prescribed, possessing capacity and acting freely, he had the legal right to make it. Smith v. Smith, 3 Dick. Ch. Rep. 566, 590.
The decree of the orphans court will be reversed.