Bailey v. Rains

485 S.W.2d 837, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2735
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 5, 1972
Docket5141
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 485 S.W.2d 837 (Bailey v. Rains) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bailey v. Rains, 485 S.W.2d 837, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2735 (Tex. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

HALL, Justice.

The appellants, Charles Bailey and two of his four children, are the contestants of the will of Mrs. Willis Ellen Musgrove Bailey Rains. Bailey was testatrix’ only child.

The appellees are the proponents of the will. They are W. R. Rains, surviving husband of the testatrix, and R. M. Henderson, an old friend of the testatrix. Rains, Henderson and Bailey were named as joint executors in the questioned will. The will is dated October 1, 1969. Testatrix died on March 31, 1970.

Contestants attacked the will in the County Court, and in the subsequent appeal to the District Court, on the grounds (1) that testatrix lacked testamentary capacity and (2) that the will is the product of undue influence exerted on testatrix by Rains. Trial to the County Court without a jury resulted in findings that the testatrix did possess testamentary capacity and that the will was not the result of undue influence. Identical findings were made by a jury on the trial in the District Court. Judgment was rendered on the verdict admitting the will to probate. We affirm.

Testatrix married W. R. Rains on March 21, 1942. She had previously been married to three others. The prior marriages ended in divorce in the years 1924, 1927 and 1932, respectively, after durations of less than two years. Contestant Bailey was born to testatrix during the first of her four marriages.

*839 On June 17, 1942, testatrix executed a will in which the bulk of her estate was left to contestant Bailey.

On May 17, 1969, Mrs. Charles Prince, who was the sister of testatrix, died. Her death was especially distressing- to the testatrix for several reasons: Mrs. Prince was the sole survivor of testatrix’ brothers and sisters; they “loved each other dearly” and were confidants; and testatrix believed that Mr. Prince in some fashion caused or contributed to the cause of the death of her sister.

Bailey suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized on March 18, 1969. Between that date and the death of testatrix he was in and out of the hospital approximately nine times. These included trips to the hospital on the 3rd and 22nd of September, 1969, for open-heart surgery and for the placement of a plastic vein in one arm. He has been unable to hold a job since the heart attack.

Testatrix had a history of cerebral-vascular disease. On May 23, 1969, she suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. While in the hospital, she had her attorney prepare a new will. The will was executed by her on May 28th. She was released from the hospital the next day. Shortly before October 1, 1969, she again contacted her attorney and had him draft wills for execution by her and her husband. On October 1st, the wills, which include the will in question, were executed by testatrix and Rains. There was only minor change, involving disposition of five cemetery lots, between testatrix’ wills of May 28th and October 1st. In effect, both wills divided the separate property owned by testatrix between her son and her husband, and gave the remainder of her estate to her husband. Bailey’s children are named as contingent remaindermen in the event Rains should have predeceased testatrix. Compared with her community property, testatrix’ separate property was relatively small.

On March 31, 1970, testatrix, then 63 years of age, died in the hospital as the result of a stroke suffered four days earlier.

The trial court instructed the jury that a person, to have testamentary capacity at the time of execution of a will, “must have had sufficient mental ability to understand the business in which she was engaged, the effect of her act in making the will, and the nature and extent of her property; she must be able to know her next of kin and the natural objects of her bounty, and their claims upon her; she must have memory sufficient to collect in her mind the elements of the business about to be transacted and to hold them long enough to perceive at least their obvious relation to each other, and to be able to form a reasonable judgment as to them; and finally, to have testamentary capacity, a person must not, at the time of execution of the will, have been laboring under any insane delusion either in regard to her property or the natural and proper objects of her bounty, which affected the disposition of the property she was attempting to make, or of which delusion the papers were the offspring or fruit. By ‘insane delusion’ is meant the belief of a state of supposed facts which no rational person would believe.”

If the testimony favorable to proponents is true, then testatrix was of sound mind, and possessed every element of “testamentary capacity” as set forth in the trial court’s definition of that term, on October 1, 1969, and during the years of her life before that date and the months thereafter until her fatal stroke. Close friends, and others who knew testatrix on a social, fraternal, and business basis, including her personal physician and her attorney, attested directly to that fact. They testified further that she was “very sharp and efficient” and “mentally alert and smart”; that “her mind was just as sharp as a tack” and “she knew what she was doing”; that she was a “neat, petit woman,” “im *840 maculate” in the maintenance of her home and person; “a very intelligent woman”; a “determined sort of person” of “strong convictions”; “a person of strong will and determination”; “hard-working and frugal”; “very friendly”; “diligent”; “efficient”; a “good woman” with “a reputation in the community for truthfulness”; that before and after October 1, 1969, as well as before, during, and after her stay in the hospital in May, 1969, there was no change in her disposition or personality or conduct. They said that she and Mr. Rains were a “devoted couple”; that she was “the more outgoing of the two in conversation and demeanor”; that she knew more about the details of their business and legal affairs than did Mr. Rains, “was the business manager of the family,” “took the lead in attending to their business” and “was the spokesman for the two.” In fact, she told the attorney who drafted their wills of October 1, 1969, what to put in Mr. Rains’ will, and he knew nothing about it until he went with her to the attorney’s office. She told him to sign it, and he did. She was “very .fond” of her son, Charles, and “quite concerned, always,” about him because of his ill health. She expressed “normal feelings of love” for her grandchildren, “just like everyone.”

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Bluebook (online)
485 S.W.2d 837, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2735, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bailey-v-rains-texapp-1972.