In re the Estate of Jeffs

131 P. 847, 73 Wash. 212, 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1580
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedApril 28, 1913
DocketNo. 10596
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 131 P. 847 (In re the Estate of Jeffs) 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 the Estate of Jeffs, 131 P. 847, 73 Wash. 212, 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1580 (Wash. 1913).

Opinion

Morris, J.

This is an appeal from a decree establishing and admitting to probate the last will of the deceased. Mary Jeffs died in November, 1911. Prior to her death she had executed four different wills, making different disposition of her estate. Three of these wills were offered for probate, and upon a consolidated hearing, the court admitted to probate the will which was first in time. Proponents of the other two wills have appealed.

In discussing these various wills, and in giving the reasons for the conclusions we have reached, we shall not attempt to refer to all the matters discussed by counsel for these various proponents. No open-minded man can read the record submitted on this appeal without reaching the same conclusion as the court below, that the only will speaking the free and uncontrolled mind of Mary Jeffs was the one admitted to probate. Without attempting to cover the matter in detail, it will be necessary to refer to the circumstances under which these four wills were made, and go somewhat into the history of the deceased. Richard Jeffs was a pioneer rancher in the White River valley. He was apparently a man of some force of character and business acumen, and at the time of his death, in 1908, had accumulated a large property of the probable value of nearly $300,000. In his youth, and shortly after his advent into this new country, he married an Indian woman, and unlike some of the pioneers who did likewise, he did not put her aside with the coming of wealth and prosperity, but maintained his marital relation up to the time of his death. This Indian woman was Mary Jeffs, the de[214]*214ceased. Several children were horn of this marriage, but all had died prior to July, 1907.

So far as the record discloses, Richard Jeffs had no relatives, and after the death of his youngest son, he sought to originate some plan whereby this large community estate should become a beneficial factor to future generations. In this wish it is evident he was joined by his wife, who while not differing from the average woman of her race, leaned upon the strong character of her husband and was upheld and encouraged by him, until the husband’s wish became her own as to the beneficial use of their property. That this desire had obtained a strong hold on both Richard and Mary Jeffs, and was the result of much thought, is apparent from the fact that, as early as 1893, they executed wills with provisions for an orphans’ home, contingent upon the prior death of the youngest son without issue. This son died in 1901, and, after his death, Richard Jeffs 'sought the advice of counsel as to the best way to accomplish the mutual desire of himself and wife as to the disposition of the property for the use and benefit of an orphanage. The matter was finally determined to their mutual satisfaction, and in July, 1907, two wills were drawn, each providing for the same orphanage, creating the same trust, nominating the same trustees, and providing for the joining of the two estates, after the death of both husband and wife, in one trust fund, the proceeds of which were to be used in the construction and maintenance of a home for orphan children resident in King county, “or in case King county is ever divided, then resident in the county in which the city of Seattle is situated,” to be forever known as “The Jeffs Orphans’ Home.” Mary Jeffs’ chief interest seemed to be centered in the idea that this home would not only be a memorial to herself and husband, but would be a monument to the memory of her youngest son, Alex.

While these two wills were drawn at the same time, they were executed on different days. Richard Jeffs executed his wiE on July 16, 1907. The will of Mary Jeffs was delivered [215]*215to her on the same day, but the attorney who drew the wills insisted that, before she executed it, she should have a clear understanding of its provisions; for this reason it was left at the home on the day the husband executed his will, in order that he might convey to her an explicit and thorough understanding of its terms, and two days later the three persons who had witnessed the execution of the husband’s will appeared at the home and witnessed the execution of the wife’s will. That at the time of its execution Mary Jeffs had as clear and comprehensive an understanding of the provisions of this will as it was possible with her limited knowledge to convey to her, cannot be doubted.

Richard Jeffs died the following February, and from that time Mary Jeffs, who was then nearly seventy years of age, became as variable as a leaf in the wind. In the language of respondents’ brief: “She was left derelict upon an uncharted sea, and drifted with every current and was blown about by every adverse wind which she encountered.” She seemed, in the death of her husband, to have lost the prop of her declining years, and weakened materially in both mind and body. She became more or less addicted to the use of intoxicants, and rapidly descended from her former condition until she became a weak, vacillating and decrepit old woman, giving heed to any plan as to the disposition of her property that might be suggested to her. With her mental powers so weakened as to furnish her no guide in the disposition of her affairs, she readily yielded herself to the wishes of those about her, one day adopting one suggestion as the result of a visit from one set of friends or relations, the next day agreeing with others upon a different disposition, again importuning old friends of her husband to aid her in extricating herself from her entanglements, and beseeching them to assist her in remaining steadfast to the original purpose of joining her estate with that of her husband in the erection and maintenance of the memorial orphanage.

On March 7, 1908, and within a month after the death of [216]*216her husband, Henry Sicade, who had married her daughter, then deceased, obtained a will from her in which, save for a few small legacies, aggregating $3,000, to relatives, she left him her entire estate. This will was produced and is filed as an exhibit in this record, although no one seemed willing to stand sponsor for it and ask for its probate. In this will she refers at length to the will of July 18, 1907, and repudiates it as having been made without a full comprehension and realization of its provisions. On May 12, 1909, she executed a deed to all her property to this same Henry Sicade, conveying property approximately of the value of $150,000, without any apparent consideration. On September 17, 1910, she repudiated this will and deed in which Sicade had been the chief beneficiary, and employed James Hart and Jay C. Allen as attorneys to commence a suit to obtain a reconveyance of the lands embraced in the deed, reciting that the deed had been obtained by fraud and misrepresentation; agreeing to grant to Hart and Allen an undivided one-half of all the property reconveyed to her, as compensation for their legal services. On September 22,- 1910, she executes her third will, in which she bequeaths $5,000 to the sister to whom she had bequeathed $500 in the Sicade will, makes no mention of the nieces to whom she had bequeathed $500 each in the Sicade will, and for the first time mentions a friend, Greta Lund, who had been staying with her for some time prior, to whom she bequeathed $5,000, and the entire residue of her estate she devises to James Hart, Jay C. Allen and R. V. Ankeny, in trust, the income of the trust estate to be united with that arising from the estate of Richard Jeffs in the maintenance of the Jeffs Orphans’ Home.

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Bluebook (online)
131 P. 847, 73 Wash. 212, 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1580, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-jeffs-wash-1913.