In Re De Franceschi's Estate

70 S.W.2d 513, 17 Tenn. App. 673, 1933 Tenn. App. LEXIS 100
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 22, 1933
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 70 S.W.2d 513 (In Re De Franceschi's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re De Franceschi's Estate, 70 S.W.2d 513, 17 Tenn. App. 673, 1933 Tenn. App. LEXIS 100 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

SENTER, J.

This is an appeal from a decree entered in the probate court of Shelby county, Tennessee, on June 23, 1932, admitting to probate in solemn form a copy of the holographic will of Antonio de Franceschi, deceased, and the probate thereof in the ■ courts of. the kingdom of Italy.

It appears that Antonio de Franceschi, a resident of Shelby county, Tennessee, died on the 17th day of November, 1931, while on a visit to the town of Lestans, in the kingdom of Italy, leaving surviving him a widow and nine children, six of whom were adults and three of whom were minors under the'age of twenty-one years. It appears that, upon learning of the death of her husband, the widow, Bertha de Franceschi, applied for appointment in the probate court of Shelby county, Tennessee, as administratrix of the estate of her deceased husband. This was upon the assumption that Antonio de Franceschi died while on a visit in Italy, intestate. Upon her petition she was duly appointed the administratrix of the estate, and letters of administration duly issued to her by the probate court of Shelby county, Tennessee, on the 3rd day of December, 1931. Subsequently, the family received information that Antonio de Franceschi did not die intestate, and that some proceedings with reference to a holographic will said to have been executed by him occurred in Lestans, in Italy. Investigation was made, and thereupon, on June 17, 1932, a petition was filed in the probate court of Shelby county, by Pietro de Franceschi, a son of the deceased, setting out that a holographic will had been found upon the body of Antonio de Franceschi, and that said holographic will had been probated in Spilimbergo, province of Udine, Italy, on March 1, 1932; an alleged certified copy with the alleged Italian probate with alleged proper authentication was filed with said petition. No executor having been named in the alleged will, the petitioner prayed that he be appointed the administrator cum testamento annexo, and that said certified copy of the probate from Italy be admitted to probate in the probate court of Shelby county, Tennessee. All of the adult heirs, including the widow, jointed in the petition; the widow specifically waiving her rights to administer in favor of said petitioner, Pietro de Franceschi. Process on said petition was duly issued and served on the minor defendants, and a guardian ad litem was duly appointed by the probate judge, who filed an answer in behalf of said minor heirs. *675 On June 23, 1932, a decree admitting tbe certified and authenticated copy of said will and the alleged foreign probate thereof to probate in solemn form was entered upon said petition. The decree in the probate court limited the probate of the holographic will to the personal property of said estate, and by specific provision in the decree the probate of the holographic will was limited to, and made applicable only to, the personal estate, and specifically excluded the real estate owned by the deceased at his death. The alleged probate of the will in the probate court of Shelby county was in solmn form.

The deceased left a considerable estate, consisting of both real and personal property; the major portion of the estate was in stocks, bonds, money, and other securities, a considerable portion of which was in Shelby county, Tennessee.

There was no appeal prayed or granted from the decree of the probate judge admitting said will to probate, but subsequently Flora de Franceschi, one of the adult heirs at law, and a daughter of Antonio de Franceschi, deceased, filed a petition for writ of error in this court, assigning errors, and the record is now before this court on said writ of error, and the questions made under the assignments of error.

The first assignment of error presents the question that the court erred in appointing Pietro de Franceschi administrator cum testamento annexo, and admitting said will to probate before first removing Bertha de Franceschi as the administratrix previously appointed. It appears that Bertha de Franceschi joined in the petition requesting the appointment of her said son, Pietro, as the administrator with the will annexed, and in the petition for probating the alleged holographic will. Shortly thereafter she filed a petition setting forth the amount of the estate, and asked that the same be treated as her settlement, and that she and her sureties on the administrator’s bond be discharged. This petition was granted, and the settlement approved, and she was accordingly discharged with* her sureties. Since she joined in the petition for the appointment of her son, which petition set out all the facts, we are of the opinion that there was no error in the action of the probate court in so far as the element of time was concerned.

By the second assignment of error it is contended that the court erred in admitting the said will of the deceased to probate as a holographic will, because the proof necessary to establish the same as a holographic will as required by section 8090 of the 1932 Code of Tennessee was not introduced; that there was not sufficient evidence introduced to show, (a) that said will, after the death of deceased, had been found among his valuable papers or lodged in the hands of another for safe-keeping; nor (b) that the handwriting of the deceased was generally known by his acquaintances; nor (c) was it *676 proven by three creditable witnesses that they verily believed the writing, and every part of it, was in the hand of the deceased.

The third assignment of error presents the most important question to be considered on the appeal. By this assignment it is urged that the court erred in admitting the alleged will of deceased to probate because it was not entitled to probate as a duly probated will under section 8115 of the 1932 Code of Tennessee. In this connection it is contended that the authenticated record of the proceedings had on said alleged will in Italy, and which record was presented to the court with the said petition, failed to show that said alleged will had been fully proved, allowed, and admitted to probate in the kingdom of Italy, according’ to the laws of Italy. And, further, that said authenticated record nor any other proof offered in support of said petition does not show that said alleged will was executed according to the law of the place in which the same was made, the said paper on its face showing that it was made in Washington, D. C.; nor did it show that it was executed according to the law of the place in which the testator, at the time, was domiciled, said paper on its face showing that the domicile of the deceased was then in Memphis, Tennessee; nor that it was executed in conformity with laws of the State of Tennessee.

By the fourth assignment it is said that said will should not have been admitted to probate by the probate court of Shelby county, Tennessee, because on the proof introduced it was not entitled to probate as an unprobated foreign will under section 8116 of the 1932 Code. •

By the fifth assignment, the contention is made that the court erred in admitting said will to probate as a will of personal property only, because the proof necessary to warrant the probate of such . a will was not produced on the hearing of said petition; that .the factum of said will was not established by two witnesses, nor by evidence equivalent to that of two witnesses present at its execution.

Having disposed of the first assignment, we will consider and dispose of al-1 other assignments collectively.

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Bluebook (online)
70 S.W.2d 513, 17 Tenn. App. 673, 1933 Tenn. App. LEXIS 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-de-franceschis-estate-tennctapp-1933.