Deist Estate

75 Pa. D. & C. 145, 1950 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 249
CourtPennsylvania Orphans' Court, Somerset County
DecidedNovember 3, 1950
Docketno. 68 of 1950
StatusPublished

This text of 75 Pa. D. & C. 145 (Deist Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Orphans' Court, Somerset County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deist Estate, 75 Pa. D. & C. 145, 1950 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 249 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1950).

Opinion

Lansberry, P. J.,

In this orphans’ court proceeding the facts are not in dispute nor are they complicated. From the pleadings and testi[146]*146mony it appears that on or about January 22, 1948, Joseph M. Deist opened a savings account with the Peoples State Bank, Jennerstown, Pa., being account no. 2262. At that time he executed a signature card on which was typed his name, “Savings Account” and account number at two separate places and on which signature card was typed “In case of Death this account is payable to Annie Laurie Deist”; immediately beneath the quoted statement he placed his signature in ink, Joseph M. Deist. Thereafter and up to December 1, 1949, six deposits were made into this account, of which four were interest credits, and during the same period of time four withdrawals were made; on April 4, 1950, the balance in the account was $25,-293.27.

During the afternoon of April 4, 1950, Robert W. Bittner, cashier of the Peoples State Bank, Jennerstown, Pa., received a telephone call from Joseph M. Deist, asking the cashier “to withdraw the amount of money that was in his savings account, place it in an envelope and keep the money in (his) possession for him.” The cashier, in that telephone conversation, told the depositor “it was impossible for me (the cashier) to make a withdrawal on his account, but if he wanted to make a withdrawal he would have to come to the bank and withdraw the money”, to which Joseph M. Deist replied that he couldn’t come to the bank then but would see him the following morning at eight o’clock. It further appears that Joseph M. Deist told the cashier he was having some difficulties, that a warrant had been issued for him and he thought the account might be attached by the sheriff, which he did not want to happen. The difficulties to which the depositor referred were actually domestic difficulties, but it is not apparent that the type of difficulties to which Mr. Deist referred in the telephone conversation were communicated to the cashier. Several hours following [147]*147the telephone conversation Joseph M. Deist went to Somerset, Pa., where he was fatally wounded and died as a result thereof within a few minutes.

Joseph M. Deist was survived by his widow, Annie Laurie Deist; two brothers, Benjamin F. Deist and John Lester Deist, and a sister, Myrtle Deist Woy.

Letters of administration were granted to the widow, Annie Laurie Deist, on April 10, 1950, and on April 14, 1950, an inventory and appraisement was filed in which was included for calculation of the transfer inheritance tax only, the deposit in the Peoples State Bank of Jennerstown, Pa. The appraisement showed other personal assets in the amount of $37,497.80 and real estate in the amount of $1,575.

On April 17, 1950, upon consideration of the petition of Annie Laurie Deist, an order was entered awarding petitioner as the surviving spouse the $10,-000 allotment provided by section 2(3) of the Intestate Act of 1947.

On May 5, 1950, the signature card stapled to the pass book was exhibited to the Register of Wills of Somerset County, the signature of Joseph M. Deist on the signature card duly authenticated and proven to be in his handwriting and this signature card and pass book admitted to probate as and for a testamentary writing of Joseph M. Deist, deceased.

Following the filing of the inventory and appraisement, on April 24, 1950, the two brothers and sister of decedent filed exceptions to the appraisement, their exception being deduction of the above savings account as an asset of the estate. Answer was filed to this exception, averring that the bank account as set up was testamentary in character and by the terms thereof passed to the widow, Annie Laurie Deist, since no revocation of this testamentary disposition of the bank account had been made.

[148]*148Subsequently, on April 27, 1950, the two brothers and sister filed exceptions to the allowance of the surviving spouse’s allotment, averring that “said provision attached to the savings account was in law and effect a testamentary bequest to Annie Laurie Deist, widow of Joseph M. Deist”, and therefore contending that “under the Intestate Act of 1947, the deceased being testate as to his widow, Annie Laurie Deist, she is not entitled to the spouse’s exemption of $10,000”. An answer to these exceptions was duly filed.

Thereafter, on June 10, 1950, the two brothers and sister of decedent perfected an appeal from the probate of the signature card and pass book as the last will and testament of decedent and the granting of letters thereon averring that the probated writing, if it was a will, was revoked by Joseph M. Deist on April 4, 1950 (by virtue of his telephone conversation with the bank cashier), that the alleged testamentary writing is void as a will because it is not dated and that the grant of letters by the register is illegal because they have not been advertised and no notice was given to exceptants, three of the heirs at law of decedent, of the probate of the testamentary writing.

The exceptions to the appraisement, exceptions to the allowance of the spouse’s allotment and the appeal from the probate of the testamentary writing came on for hearing on June 14, 1950, at which time testimony was taken. Thereafter, counsel for the administratrix and executrix submitted a written brief, and counsel for exceptants cited the single reported case of Martin Estate, 865 Pa. 280, as authority for their respective positions.

The fundamental question presented by this record is whether the combined signature card and pass book may be probated as a testamentary writing.

Our courts have repeatedly and consistently held that the form of the will or testamentary writing is [149]*149immaterial if its substance is testamentary. The test is the intention of decedent to make a disposition of property upon his death. No form of words can be said to be necessary to make a will, but rather as stated and defined by Blackstone, Book 2, page 499, a will is “the legal declaration of a man’s intentions, which he wills to be performed after his death”.

A reference to a few of the cases is sufficient authority for our present purposes. In the celebrated and oft quoted case of Turner v. Scott, 51 Pa. 126, Mr. Chief Justice Woodward said at page 134, after reviewing the English authorities:

“The doctrine of the cases is, that whatever the form of the instrument, if it vest no present interest, but only appoints what is to be done after the death of the maker, it is a testamentary instrument. It signifies nothing that the parties meant to make a deed instead of a will. If they have used language which the law holds to be testamentary, their intention is to be gathered from the legal import of the words they have employed, for all parties must be judged by the legal meaning of their words.”

Mr. Justice Mercur in Frew v. Clarke, 80 Pa. 170, at page 178, after reviewing the authorities, said:

“This instrument is in writing. It is signed at the end thereof. It contains no admission of indebtedness. It furnishes no evidence of a debt. It contains no promise to pay. It vested no present interest. It was not to take effect until after the death of McCully. In the meantime he could revoke it at his pleasure. It therefore possessed all of the essential characteristics of a will, and was undoubtedly testamentary in its character.”

The rather recent case of Onofrey v. Wolliver, 351 Pa.

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Related

Martin Estate
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Ford's Estate
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Onofrey v. Wolliver
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Waltman v. Germantown Trust Co.
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Lewis' Estate
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Turner v. Scott
51 Pa. 126 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1867)
Evans's Appeal
58 Pa. 238 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1868)
Frew v. Clarke
80 Pa. 170 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1876)
Schillo's Estate
64 Pa. Super. 85 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 Pa. D. & C. 145, 1950 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deist-estate-paorphctsomers-1950.