In Re Martin's Estate

1953 OK 260, 261 P.2d 603
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 29, 1953
Docket35205
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 1953 OK 260 (In Re Martin's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Martin's Estate, 1953 OK 260, 261 P.2d 603 (Okla. 1953).

Opinion

261 P.2d 603 (1953)

In re MARTIN'S ESTATE.
HAMMOND
v.
FRENSLEY et al.

No. 35205.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

September 29, 1953.

*604 Jay D. Jones, Duncan, for plaintiff in error.

J.G. Clift, Duncan, for defendants in error.

BLACKBIRD, Justice.

This appeal involves a will contest. The testatrix, Mrs. Estella R. Martin, died February 4, 1945, in Duncan, Oklahoma, at the age of 63 years, leaving her property which consisted mostly of realty, including farm interests, to her sister, Mrs. Berta C. Brooke, and her daughter, Mrs. Johnye Hammond, in proportions of 51% and 49%, respectively. Upon the joint petition of both beneficiaries, Mrs. Martin's will, dated November 8, 1944, was admitted to probate March 13, 1945, and an administrator with the will annexed was thereafter appointed. Within a year thereafter and while administration of the estate was progressing, during the course of which Johnye received various allowances, she was adjudged incompetent. While under this disability, her husband, Clyde Hammond, as her guardian, filed this contest on her behalf, alleging among other things, in substance, that the will admitted to probate was invalid because the testatrix lacked testamentary capacity due to mental illness at the time she executed it; that the will was written by Mrs. Brooke, who, by the practice of fraud and undue influence, procured its execution *605 by the testatrix, and that since its admission to probate, an earlier will dated December 16, 1942, had been discovered. Contestant concluded said pleading by praying that the previous court order admitting the allegedly invalid will to probate be set aside and the 1942 "will" be admitted to probate as testatrix' last will and testament. After Mrs. Hammond was restored to competency, she took the place of her husband and former guardian in the proceedings, and after a trial of the contest in the County Court, that court held in her favor. Upon an appeal from said ruling by Mrs. Brooke and a trial de novo in the District Court, that court entered judgment in her favor, reversing the County Court's judgment and upholding and reinstating the will executed in November, 1944, and the county court order admitting it to probate. Mrs. Hammond has appealed from the latter judgment. She and her aunt, Mrs. Brooke, will hereinafter be referred to in their relative positions of "Contestant" and "Proponent."

According to the undisputed facts, Mrs. Martin was in poor health during the latter years of her life, and proponent, who was a public stenographer, resided in her home and assisted in the management of her property.

The contestant, who apparently had been subnormal all of her life, had married a man who drank excessively. Mrs. Martin not only lacked confidence in this son-in-law's ability to provide for her daughter, but it also appeared that she affirmatively disliked him. Judging from her conduct and attitude toward her said daughter, as well as her statements to others, she realized contestant's incompetency, lack of judgment, and financial dependence, and had always shouldered the responsibility of providing for her essential financial needs.

Proponent appeared to be a person of financial responsibility and more capable than the deceased in business affairs. She operated a news stand in which she and Mrs. Martin were at one time partners, but about a year before the latter's death, she took over the decedent's interest and also continued her public stenography at a desk at the back of the room occupied by the news stand. Like Mrs. Martin, proponent apparently also recognized her niece's dependent condition and appreciated her sister's natural desire to take care of her.

The will in question was written by the testator dictating it to proponent, while the latter typed it.

Contestant's position is that under Anderson v. Davis, Okl.Sup., 256 P.2d 1099, 1100, there was a presumption in this case that her aunt, the proponent, unduly influenced the testator in devising a larger proportion of her property to proponent than to contestant, and that the evidence does not sustain proponent's burden of overcoming this presumption. She further contends that the evidence as a whole shows the testatrix lacked testamentary capacity.

In the case cited, this court laid down the rule that:

"When a will is prepared by the sole or principal beneficiary, who was the confidential agent, or who occupied a position of confidence or trust, to the testator, the instrument will not be held valid as a will unless it be affirmatively shown (a) that the testator read or knew its contents, and (b) had independent advice with reference thereto." (Emphasis added.)

In the case, this court also followed the rules that where such a beneficiary actively participated in the preparation of the will, he must assume the burden of proof that he did not exert undue influence upon the testator when the will is attacked upon that ground. There it was held that where such relationship between the two exists, and the will is inconsistent with the testator's claims of duty and affection, slight evidence of such influence is sufficient to invalidate the will.

Assuming, without at this point deciding, that the proponent occupied a position of confidence or trust in relation to the testatrix, we will now examine the evidence to ascertain whether or not this case possesses the other necessary prerequisites for application of these principles. The trial court, in effect, held that it did not, and one of its "Conclusions of Law" was "That the contestant has failed to establish or prove *606 facts sufficient to sustain the allegations of her Petition." The substance of one of contestant's contentions here is that, in view of the rules above referred to, there was a presumption in this case that the will she attacks was the result of undue influence by proponent and this shifted the burden of proof to proponent requiring her to overcome said presumption by proof that the testatrix read or knew its contents, "and (b) had independent advice with reference thereto." Proponent tacitly admits that the evidence does not establish "(b)" but contends that the rule as a whole has no application to this case.

The complete text of the will in question is in words and figures as follows:

"I, Estella R. Martin hereby give and bequeath my sister Berta C. Brooke 51 percent and my daughter Johnye Louise Martin 49 percent, of all the property, real, personal or mixed, of which I may die, seized or possessed, of wherever situated."

Proponent was the only eye witness to the actual composition and writing of the will and this was related in her testimony as follows:

"Q. Now then, looking at that instrument, Mrs. Brooks, can you tell us who prepared that will? A. Mrs. Martin dictated it and I typed it.
"Q. Now then, what day was it that you typed this will? A. It was one Sunday morning. I can't remember the date. It was one Sunday morning.
"Q. Now then, where were you when you typed this will? A. In Mrs. Martin's house.
"Q. Were you in the bed room? A. Yes, sir.
"Q. Was she in bed then? A. Yes, sir.
"Q. And where — you in relation to Mrs. Martin's bed when you typed the will? A. Well, it is a large room and the bed sets in the middle of the room, between the windows and the desk, kinda on one side, and my back would be toward her taking the dictation.
"Q.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1953 OK 260, 261 P.2d 603, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-martins-estate-okla-1953.