In Re Hardy's Estate

326 P.2d 692, 133 Mont. 536, 1958 Mont. LEXIS 100
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 8, 1958
Docket9562
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 326 P.2d 692 (In Re Hardy's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Hardy's Estate, 326 P.2d 692, 133 Mont. 536, 1958 Mont. LEXIS 100 (Mo. 1958).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE CASTLES:

This is an appeal from an order granting a new trial on the issues of lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence affecting the validity of the will of Frank E. Hardy, deceased.

The will of Frank E. Hardy was admitted to probate on December 10, 1952, by order of the district court of Richland County. Charles J. Hardy, deceased at the time of trial in the *538 instant ease, was the applicant for probate of the will. Charles J. Hardy, together with one of the two subscribing witnesses, one Charles Flynn, both testified at the hearing on December 10, 1952, that the will was executed by Frank E. Hardy on August 25, 1949. At the hearing on December 10, 1952, Charles B. Hardy, one of the defendants herein and a son of Charles J. Hardy, was appointed administrator with the will annexed and continued to so act.

Frank E. Hardy died on October 23, 1952, having no wife, issue or parents surviving him. The petitioner in this action is the son of a deceased brother of Frank E. Hardy and one of the heirs. Charles J. Hardy was a surviving brother and legatee. Sadie Hartley and Elizabeth Lewis are sisters of Frank E. Hardy, and are heirs. Defendant GuineVere Beagle is the daughter of a deceased brother of Frank E. Hardy and is an heir. Defendants Erma Gail and Mary Frances Camalig are daughters of a deceased sister of Frank E. Hardy and are heirs. The defendant, George E. Brennan, and the Catholic Bishop of Great Falls, Montana, a corporation sole, are legatees of Frank E. Hardy.

By the terms of the will, Charles J. Hardy, Sadie Hartley, George E. Brennan and the Catholic Bishop of Great Falls, Montana, are named as legatees and devisees under the will of Frank E. Hardy.

Subsequent to the admission of the will to probate and on October 28, 1953, the plaintiff, William J. Hardy, filed his petition for contest of the validity of the will on the grounds of lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence. Defendants Charles B. Hardy, administrator with the will annexed of the estate of Frank E. Hardy, deceased, and Paul H. Cresap, administrator of the estate of Charles J. Hardy, deceased, answered by general denial the allegations of invalidity. Jury trial was demanded and the issues were submitted to a jury. A verdict for the plaintiff and against the validity of the will was returned by the jury on lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence. Judgment was entered accordingly.

*539 Defendants, Charles B. Hardy, administrator with will annexed of the estate of Frank E. Hardy, deceased, and Pañi H. Cresap, administrator of the estate of Charles J. Hardy, deceased, then served notice of intention to move for a new trial on several grounds on John M. Lexcen, as attorney for plaintiff, William J. Hardy, and on no other party. Subsequently, the trial court granted a new trial on the ground of insufficiency of evidence to support the verdict. The appeal by plaintiff is from that order.

The appellant assigns as error:

(1) The trial court did not have jurisdiction of the motion for a new trial;

(2) The evidence of lack of testamentary capacity was sufficient under the single instruction given on that issue;

(3) The evidence of undue influence was sufficient under the court’s instructions on that issue; and

(4) The trial court could not accept and consider respondents’ evidence of execution of the purported will on a date other than it bears when ruling on the motion for new trial.

A motion to dismiss the appeal was filed by one James Hardy, an heir of Charles J. Hardy, deceased, one of the defendants herein, based on lack of service on a member of the armed forces of the United States. The motion was made without any brief of authorities, on January 28, 1958, after respondents’ brief had been filed in August 1955. The administrator of the estate of Charles J. Hardy had been served and had appeared by answer. We find no merit in the motion to dismiss.

The appellant’s first assignment of error is predicated upon the fact that respondents filed and served upon the appellant, William J. Hardy, through his attorneys, a notice of intention to move for a new trial, but did not serve any notice of any kind upon the other named defendants. The record reveals that of the heirs, the parties entitled to share in the estate if the will were to be set aside, three reside in Richland County, Montana, one resides in Wyoming, one resides in Wisconsin, and one resides in California. The appellant contends *540 that the failure to serve the heirs, residing in Montana with notice of intention to move for a new trial is a fatal jurisdictional defect in the presence of which the trial court was without power to grant the motion for a new trial.

R.C.M. 1947, section 93-5605, provides that “The party desiring a new trial must * * * serve upon the adverse party and file with the clerk a notice of motion for a new trial * * Emphasis supplied.

R.C.M. 1947, section 91-1102, regarding contests of wills after probate provides, among other things that “a citation must be issued to * * * heirs residing in the state, so far as known to the petitioner. ’ ’ This section by its language seems to indicate that heirs residing outside the state are not entitled to notice of the contest. Nor are nonresident heirs entitled to notice of probate. R.C.M. 1947, section 91-807; In re Smith’s Estate, 126 Mont. 558, 255 Pac. (2d) 687.

In the instant ease the record reveals that citation, on filing of the contest of the purported will, was duly issued to the persons required to be cited by R.C.M. 1947, section 91-1102. The administrator with the will annexed of the estate of Frank E. Hardy and the administrator of the estate of Charles J. Hardy appeared and answered the petition. No other defendants appeared at or before trial, nor were any defaults entered against them for failure to appear.

Recently this court ruled in Central Montana Stockyards v. Fraser, 133 Mont. 168, 320 Pac. (2d) 981, 988, that under the provisions of R.C.M. 1947, section 93-8005, a party who had been served with summons and complaint and against whom a default was entered, and where no attempt had been made to vacate or set aside the default, was not an adverse party upon whom service of notice of appeal was required.

In that case the court said: “ ‘A defendant against whom a default is entered is not an adverse party to an appeal from a judgment against other defendants, which cannot affect his interests. Fearon v. Fodera, [supra] 169 Cal. 370; 148 Pac. 200, Ann. Cas. 1916 D. 312. A default suffered on the part *541 of a defendant is an admission and a reversal would not do away with such default, and as long as it stands any judgment rendered on appeal would not affect the judgment against such defaulting defendant.’ MacDonald v. Superior Court, 101 Cal. App. 423, 281 Pac. 672, 673.”

The court then concluded that the defaulted party was not “adverse parties” upon whom notice of appeal was required to be served.

The wording of section 93-8005, R.C.M.

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Bluebook (online)
326 P.2d 692, 133 Mont. 536, 1958 Mont. LEXIS 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-hardys-estate-mont-1958.