Aitkenhead v. Wills

179 P.2d 373, 79 Cal. App. 2d 22, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 788
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 10, 1947
DocketCiv. 15551
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 179 P.2d 373 (Aitkenhead v. Wills) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aitkenhead v. Wills, 179 P.2d 373, 79 Cal. App. 2d 22, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 788 (Cal. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

WHITE, J.

On the morning of March 2, 1944, decedent Maude R. Rich, then 66 years of age, executed an holographic will by the terms of which her entire estate was bequeathed to Mrs. Clara Wills, who had been legally adopted when she was seven years of age, by decedent’s mother. This holographic will was placed by decedent in her safety deposit box at the Bank of America at San Pedro, California, at 10 o’clock on the morning of the same day it was executed. Shortly thereafter the testatrix boarded a train at San Pedro, bound for Los Angeles, where at about noon of the same day she committed suicide by jumping out of the eighth story window of an office building in downtown Los Angeles.

On July 11, 1944, the aforesaid testamentary document was ' admitted to probate. On January 9, 1945, a written contest and opposition to the probate of said holographic will was filed by appellants herein, George C. Aitkenhead and Catherine Aitkenhead, praying that the probate of the aforesaid holographic will be revoked and that a will executed by decedent on December 1, 1943, be admitted to probate as the last will and testament of the decedent.

By the terms of this last-mentioned will, substantial devises and bequests were made to the aforesaid appellants George C. Aitkenhead and Catherine Aitkenhead, long time friends of the testatrix, and to appellant Norman Rich, a nephew of the testatrix’ predeceased husband. Appellant Norman Rich also filed his written contest in opposition to the probate of the holographic will and also prayed for the admission to probate of the will dated December 1, 1943. In her will just mentioned, decedent also remembered with bequests other relatives and friends, as well as the Episcopal Church, of which she was a communicant.

Both the aforesaid contests were predicated upon the ground that at the time decedent executed the holographic will of March 2, 1944, she was not of sound and disposing mind.

*25 Separate answers to both contests were filed by respondents Clara Wills and Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association, named as executor in the holographic will.

Following trial before a jury upon the issue of whether or not testatrix was of sound and disposing mind at the time she executed her holographic will on March 2, 1944, a special verdict was returned finding that at such time decedent was of sound and disposing mind. Accordingly, judgment was entered upon said special verdict, denying the petitions of appellants to revoke the probate of the aforementioned holographic will of March 2, 1944. Motions for a new trial were made by appellants and denied. From the judgment, and “from the verdict of the jury,” this appeal is prosecuted.

The contentions of appellants are twofold: (1) That the trial court committed prejudicial error in “permitting lay witnesses called by respondents to testify that in their opinion decedent was competent on March 2, 1944 to make a valid will”; (2) that no sufficient foundation was laid to qualify such witnesses as “intimate acquaintances” within the rule (Code Civ. Proc., § 1870, subd. 10) permitting an intimate acquaintance to give an opinion concerning the soundness of mind of a decedent, and that objections made to the questions propounded to these witnesses as to the mental competency of decedent on March 2, 1944, should have been sustained.

As to the first of appellants’ claims, the record reflects that the challenged question was as follows: “Do you have an opinion as to whether or not Maude Rich was mentally competent to make a valid will?” Appellants’ objections to the question on the ground that it called for “a legal conclusion” was overruled. The ruling was erroneous. The latter part of the question “mentally competent to make a valid will,” involving as it did a question of law and fact, was the identical question to be determined by the jury under instructions of the court. Subdivision 10 of section 1870 of the Code of Civil Procedure permits the asking of a subscribing witness to a will and also of an intimate acquaintance, questions eliciting the opinion of the witness as to the mental sanity of the person executing the testamentary instrument, the reasons for the opinion being given, but the question of competency is for the jury. In other words, when a witness has given an opinion as to the mental soundness of the decedent, the jury may judge the value or weight of such opinion *26 in the light of the reasons upon which it was based. And if, for instance, the opinion given was that the testator was not mentally sound, the next question for the jury to determine, if they deemed the opinion correct, would be whether such mental unsoundness affected the capacity of the testator to make a will. And in determining this question, the jury would have to be guided by the instructions of the court as to the nature and degree of mental unsoundness which would render the testator incapable of disposing of his property. In allowing a witness to answer the aforesaid question, the province of both the court and jury was invaded and the whole issue of law and fact was determined by the mere opinion of the witness. The vice of the question lies in the fact that capacity to make a will is not a simple question of fact, but is a conclusion which the law draws from certain facts as premises. In support of what we have herein stated there is a veritable forest of authorities, including Estate of Taylor, 92 Cal. 564, 567 [28 P. 603]; Estate of Perkins, 195 Cal. 699, 710 [235 P. 45]; Estate of Short, 7 Cal.App.2d 512, 523 [47 P.2d 555]; In re Hill, 13 Cal.App.2d 326, 329 [57 P.2d 155]; Estate of Martin, 170 Cal. 657, 668 [151 P. 138] ; 10 Cal.Jur. 1002; In re Lomax, 224 N.C. 459 [31 S.E.2d 369, 155 A.L.R. 278].

Respondents insist that without objection from appellants similar testimony was elicited from Ben A. Hill, attorney for and close friend of the decedent. However, resort to the statement on appeal discloses that Attorney Hill was asked for and merely gave his opinion as to the mental capacity of the decedent on the day she executed the holographic will. This, as we have herein pointed out, is proper because such an opinion does not impinge upon the province of the jury to determine, under the instructions of the court, whether the decedent possessed the mental capacity sufficient in law to enable her to make a valid disposition of her property.

Respondents earnestly urge that the specific question with which we are here concerned received the imprimatur of the Supreme Court of this state in Estate of Finkler, 3 Cal.2d 584, 594 [46 P.2d 149]. We, however, do not regard the quotation of the court, taken from a decision of the prerogative court of New Jersey, that “It is proper and legal to ask a witness his opinion as to the mental capacity of the individual to discharge the duty in question, ’ ’ as intended to approve the asking of a question which seeks to elicit from the *27

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Bluebook (online)
179 P.2d 373, 79 Cal. App. 2d 22, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aitkenhead-v-wills-calctapp-1947.