On November 9, 1998, testatrix Elva Tatum executed a will in which she left her home, its contents, and its 27-acre site to appellees Mattie and Oval Moore, neither of whom was related to the testatrix. Ms. Tatum died May 27, 1999, at the age of 82, without a spouse or children. The Moores filed a petition to probate the will and appellants, several nieces and nephews of the testatrix, filed a caveat. The probate judge sustained the caveat after finding the Moores had exercised undue influence over the testatrix to the extent that the will offered for probate was not the product of the testatrix’s free and voluntary act. Appellees appealed the probate court’s decision to the Superior Court of Dade County, which held a jury trial on the issue in April 2001. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the propounders of the will, and the trial court entered a judgment in accordance with the verdict. The relatives then filed this appeal.
1. Appellants contend the trial court committed reversible error
by admitting the will into evidence before the testimony of the witnesses to the will and before it was established that the will was executed with the proper formalities. Attached to the will offered for probate was a self-proving affidavit and certificate executed by the testatrix, the two witnesses to the will, and a notary public. See OCGA § 53-4-24. The self-proving affidavit, which is a sworn statement that the will has been duly executed, creates a rebuttable presumption that the requirements of signature and attestation were met without the need for live testimony or affidavits from the will’s witnesses.
Westmoreland v. Tallent,
2. After the will and self-proving affidavit were admitted into evidence, the attorney who drafted the will and served as the notary public and the two subscribing witnesses testified about the circumstances surrounding the signing and attestation of the testatrix’s will. Neither the attorney nor either witness had an independent recollection of this particular will, and the caveators objected to their testimony concerning the attorney’s history of asking the two witnesses, employees of an insurance agency near the attorney’s office, to serve as witnesses, and the attorney’s procedure once the witnesses and testator met. On appeal, caveators contend the admission of the evidence was prejudicial and manifestly unjust because there was no proof that the testatrix’s will was signed by her and executed with the required formalities. However, the testimony of the witnesses to the will on this point was unnecessary because, as noted in Division 1, the self-proving affidavit attached to the will created a presumption, subject to rebuttal, that the requirements of signature and attestation were met.
Westmoreland v. Tallent,
supra,
3. Appellants next contend the evidence was insufficient to support the jury verdict because the Moores were in a confidential relationship with the testatrix and the presumption of undue influence that accompanies that relationship was not overcome by the Moores.
“Any relationship shall be deemed confidential, whether arising from nature, created by law, or resulting from contracts, where one party is so situated as to exercise a controlling influence over the will, conduct, and interest of another. . . .” OCGA § 23-2-58. While some confidential relationships are created by law and contract, others may be created by the facts of the particular case
(Cochran v. Murrah,
The pippounders of the will presented the testimony of several long-time'friends of the testatrix who had been in daily contact with her by telephone or personal visits at the time she executed her will, and the witnesses described the testatrix as a strong-willed, competent woman who was not under anyone’s influence. Mrs. Moore’s supervisor, who had visited the testatrix two or three months after she executed the will, described the testatrix as “very competent,” “sharp as a tack,” and not under anyone’s influence. An attorney who visited the testatrix in the
4. Appellants next contend the trial court erred when it declined to admit into evidence documents appellants proffered to rebut the cross-examination of one of their witnesses who had asserted on direct that appellee Oval T. Moore had performed work while on disa
bility. “The admission of evidence is generally committed to the sound discretion of the trial court whose determination shall not be disturbed on appeal unless it amounts to an abuse of discretion.’ [Cit.]” (Citation and punctuation omitted.)
White v. Regions Bank,
Judgment affirmed.
