111 Wash. 354 | Wash. | 1920
This action was instituted by Abel White to set aside a will made by his sister, Harriet Young, deceased. The petition alleges, in substance, that the testatrix was incompetent to make the will in question, and that the will was executed under and because of undue influence exerted upon her by John C. White and M. F. Porter. The case was tried to the court and a jury. The jury returned a verdict in the form of special interrogatories, finding in substance that the testatrix, at the time she made the will in question, was not competent to make a will, and that the will was the result of undue influence exercised by John C. White or other persons. On the return of this verdict, which the trial court treated as advisory, the court reversed the findings of the jury, and after finding the facts in the case, concluded as follows:
“That at the time of the execution of her last will, the deceased had very largely recovered from the weakened condition which existed during the summer of 1915; that she had sufficient mental power and capacity to understand what she was doing and to know her property and to remember her friends and relatives, and that the said will was duly and properly executed by her without any undue influence on the-part of John O. White, M. F. Porter, or any other person, and that the said will as admitted to probate in the court on June 1, 1918, is the last will and testament of the said Harriet Young, deceased, and was properly so admitted.”
The trial court thereupon dismissed the proceedings. The petitioner has appealed from that judgment.
The only questions presented in the case are ques
“1st. Was Harriet Young, on June 29th, 1916, competent to make a valid will?
“2nd. Was the paper signed by her on that day the result of undue influence exercised by John C. White and other persons?”
But for the fact that the trial court and the jury, after listening to the evidence, arrived at directly opposite conclusions, we would be satisfied to say that the facts as found by the trial court were amply sufficient to justify the court’s finding. In view of the fact that the trial court and the jury do not agree in their conclusions upon the facts, it may be well to state some of the more important contentions of the parties hereto. The following facts, we think, are not disputed: Harriet Young, the testatrix, died in the Dunlap Hotel at Puyallup, on May 27, 1918. 'Her nearest surviving relative at that time was her brother, Abel White. At the time of her death she had property, consisting of real and personal property, of the value somewhere between $60,000 and $80,000. On June 29, 1916, she was eighty-five years of age. At that time she executed a will drawn by M. F. Porter, who had been for several years her attorney and confidential adviser and who prepared the will at her request. According to the terms of this will, she left a farm near •the town of Sumner, in Pierce county, Washington, to a nephew, John O. White, and, also, $8,000 in cash. The rest, residue and remainder of her estate, not to exceed $50,000, she devised to certain named persons, in trust, for the purpose of incorporating and maintaining a charitable institution in the town of Puyallup, Washington, to be known as the “Harriet Young Young Men’s Christian Association.” The will provided that the further residue was charged with the
In the year 1915, the deceased was induced by one Barron to make a sale of her farm near Sumner. This sale was made for a wholly inadequate price and upon unreasonable terms. Upon hearing of this sale, Mr. Porter brought an action in the superior court of Pierce county to set aside the sale. Thereafter a petition was filed in the superior court of Pierce county, alleging that Mrs. Young “has by reason of her advanced age and bodily infirmities, become mentally incompetent either to care for herself or to manage her property.” Upon the hearing of this petition, the doctors who had called to see her and had heard evidence of her manner of life testified that she was afflicted with senile dementia at that time. The court thereupon found that she was incompetent to take care of her business, and her nephew, John C. White, was appointed guardian of her estate. Thereafter this guardian was substituted as a party plaintiff, and, upon issues joined, the transaction with Mr. Barron was set aside. Thereafter Mr. White continued as guardian of her estate. He transacted all her business.
In October of 1915, the deceased was taken to the Dunlap Hotel in Puyallup, where she lived from that time until her death, which occurred in May, 1918.
The appellant contends that the deceased was incompetent to make a will in June of 1916, because at that time she was suffering from senile dementia and was incompetent to manage her own affairs, and because a guardian had been appointed a year previously to care for her estate. There is testimony in the record by doctors who, in answer to hypothetical questions detailing her condition both prior and after the
“This court has laid down the rule in the case of In re Gorkow’s Estate, 20 Wash. 563, 56 Pac. 385, quoting from Bedfield on Wills, as to what the quantum of mental capacity to make a will is, as follows:
“ ‘The result of the best considered cases upon the subject seems to put a quantum of understanding requisite to the valid execution of a will upon the basis*359 of knowing and comprehending the transaction, or, in popular phrase, that the testator should at the time of executing the will know and understand what he was about.’
“We hold the view that the right to dispose of one’s property by will is one assured by the law and is a valuable incident to ownership, and does not depend upon its judicious use.”
Prior to the time the testatrix executed the will in question, she had executed at least four other wills, and in each of these wills she had made provision for some charitable purpose similar to the one here in question, and in those wills she provided for her brother to the extent of $100. At the time she requested this will to be drawn, she stated to Mr. Porter, whom she employed to draw the will, that she would give her brother $100, because she was afraid he would attempt to set her will aside unless she gave him something. When informed that was not necessary, she directed that nothing be left to her brother. She had a number of nieces and nephews, for none of whom, except the McAdams boys, had she made provision in any of her previous wills. The main difference between this will and other wills is that, in the other wills, her nephew, John O. White, was not mentioned. In this will he received a large portion of her property. We think there is nothing unnatural in this, because Mr. White had for several years been caring for her and her property. She had trusted him implicitly and had told him upon different occasions that she expected to remunerate him by her will. We think the whole evidence bears out the conclusion of the trial court that she was in her right mind, capable of disposing of the property, and did so as she desired it to go.
Upon the question of undue influence^ we failed to find any evidence that either Mr. Porter or Mr. White
Some contention is made by the appellant to the effect that one of the witnesses was a doctor, and that this of itself is a suspicious circumstance. It is true that the doctor was a witness to the will. He had treated her professionally. He examined the testatrix before he signed the will as a witness to determine her qualification at that time, and he concluded that she was qualified and, therefore, signed the will as a witness. Considering all the circumstances, there is nothing in this to warrant criticism.
We are satisfied from all the evidence in the case that there was no undue influence, and that the testatrix was fully competent to execute the will.
Holcomb, C. J., Fullerton, Tolman, and Bridges, JJ., concur.