In Re Miller's Estate

116 P.2d 526, 10 Wash. 2d 258
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 28, 1941
DocketNo. 28354.
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 116 P.2d 526 (In Re Miller's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington 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 Miller's Estate, 116 P.2d 526, 10 Wash. 2d 258 (Wash. 1941).

Opinion

1 Reported in 116 P.2d 526. Anna Miller, a resident of Spokane, Washington, who executed her last will and testament November 22, 1938, died December 21, 1939. The portions of that will pertinent to this appeal read as follows:

"THIRD: I have a son whose name is Thomas H. Miller and I will and bequeath to my said son the sum of One Dollar and no more; this for the reason that my said son has not visited me nor written to me for many, many years last past.

"FOURTH: I have had two daughters, whose names were Etta Knol and Mary G. Driscoll, both of said daughters being now deceased; my daughter, Etta, having left two children, and my daughter, Mary, *Page 260 having left one child. These grandchildren, however, have not written to me, neither have they visited me in many, many years, therefore, I will and bequeath to each of my grandchildren the sum of One Dollar and no more.

"FIFTH: I make the further provision of One Dollar and no more to each person that may establish the fact that he or she is my child or grandchild.

"SIXTH: All the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, real, personal or mixed, wheresoever situate of which I may die, seized or possessed, or to which I may be entitled at the time of my decease, I will, devise and bequeath to the ST. JOSEPH'S ORPHANAGE OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON: THE FRANCISCAN MONASTERY OF ST. CLARE, a corporation of Spokane, Washington, and HOUSE OF THE GOOD SHEPHARD, a corporation at Spokane, Washington, share and share alike absolutely, all to be used by them in the State of Washington.

"SEVENTH: I request in consideration of the foregoing bequests that the Fathers and Sisters of the aforesaid institutions pray frequently for the peaceful repose of my soul.

"EIGHTH: I nominate, constitute and appoint the Old National Bank and Union Trust Company, a corporation, of Spokane, Washington, the executor of this my LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT and direct that my estate be settled without the intervention of Court and that said executor shall not be required to give any bond or other security for the faithful discharge of its duty."

Three grandchildren of the deceased instituted this contest to set aside the will on the grounds: (1) That Anna Miller was insane and wholly incompetent to make a will on the date of the execution of the alleged will; and (2) that the instrument alleged to be Anna Miller's last will and testament was the result of undue influence emanating from the beneficiaries under the will and those interested in their behalf, and the executor named in the alleged will and its agents. *Page 261

The trial court found that, at the time of the making of the will in controversy, Anna Miller was competent to make a will, that the instrument offered in probate was and is Anna Miller's last will and testament, and that she was not acting under the influence of any person whomsoever at the time she executed her will. Decree was entered, denying the petition of the contestants who have appealed from that decree.

Two questions are presented by this appeal: First, did Anna Miller have the mental capacity to make a will November 22, 1938; and, second, was there undue influence at the time of the execution of the will which interfered with the free will of the testatrix and prevented the exercise of judgment and choice?

The facts are summarized as follows: Some time prior to 1900, Anna Miller and her husband, Louis H. Miller, left the state of Michigan and took up their residence in Spokane, Washington, in which city they continuously resided until their deaths.

Two daughters, Etta and Mary, and one son, Thomas H., were born to this couple. The husband, who was a blacksmith or machinist, worked at his trade in Spokane from the time of his arrival in that city until his death in 1927. At that time Mrs. Miller was fifty-nine years old and her husband was twelve or fifteen years her senior. Both members of this marital community, which lived in a small house near one of the meat packing plants and a lumber yard in Spokane, were very miserly. Their daughter Mary, who was then about thirty or thirty-one years old, married C.W. Driscoll, January 5, 1917, at Baker City, Oregon. Mary died in 1931, leaving surviving her daughter, now Ethyl May Bremer, one of the contestants in this proceeding. This grandchild corresponded some with her grandmother, Anna Miller, until 1934 when Ethyl married. Mrs. Miller ceased *Page 262 to correspond after that time with Ethyl, who never visited, or was visited by, her grandmother. Mrs. Miller had in her possession a photograph of Ethyl May Bremer, taken when the girl was about fourteen years old. No other photograph of any other member of the family was found among Mrs. Miller's effects.

The other daughter, Etta, married Walter Knol, January 18, 1918, at Seattle, Washington, at which time Etta was thirty-three or thirty-four years old. Etta, who died in 1935, was survived by two children, Luella Knol and Walter Jacob Knol, whose ages at the time of the trial of this cause were eighteen and sixteen years of age respectively. During their lifetime they had seen their grandmother only during a period of about one week in 1929. These grandchildren never wrote to their grandmother nor did she ever write to them. Neither Mary nor Etta ever visited their mother or father after they were married, nor did the mother ever visit either of her daughters. A limited correspondence was had between the parents and the daughters. The son, Thomas H., who was born in 1890 or 1892, left home, because of lack of harmony between himself and his parents, when he was twelve or fifteen years of age. In 1922 Tom visited his sister Etta. He wrote to her and her husband a few times subsequent to 1922, but never after 1924. After the daughters, Etta and Mary, died, both Mr. Driscoll and Mr. Knol remarried. When Louis H. Miller, the husband and father, died in 1927, Anna Miller did not inform the daughters of the death of their father until after the funeral. Anna Miller did not attend the funeral of her daughter Mary or of her daughter Etta although she had notice of the death of each.

Mrs. Miller, after the death of her husband, continued to live in the house which she and he had occupied at the time of his death. She kept a few *Page 263 chickens. She had a small four-wheeled wagon which almost daily she used in traveling from her home to various stores a mile or so distant where she obtained waste vegetables and other discarded material which she took home and cooked for food for her chickens. In the preparation of this chicken feed she would cook the same on her cook stove in the kitchen. She became more miserly, very eccentric, and repulsively filthy in her habits. She obtained from the constituted relief agencies aid on her representation that she was destitute. On her application, she obtained burial relief from the Masonic Order at the time her husband, a Mason, died. Mrs. Miller was of the Catholic faith but rarely attended church.

After the death of her husband she lived a secluded life, and while she visited certain people in the community where she resided she did not permit them to visit her in her home. In February, 1937, she weighed about sixty-eight pounds, which was due to the manner in which she lived. On February 2, 1937, she went to the lumber company next door to her home to request assistance. She was in such physical condition that some one at the office of the lumber company reported the case to the police department. Thereupon she was taken to the city jail where she was bathed and placed in bed under the supervision of the police matron.

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Bluebook (online)
116 P.2d 526, 10 Wash. 2d 258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-millers-estate-wash-1941.