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In Re the Estate of Siler

187 S.E.2d 606, 155 W. Va. 743, 1972 W. Va. LEXIS 220
West Virginia Supreme Court·Decided March 21, 1972·No. 13108·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Carrigan, Judge:

On June 28, 1971, this Court granted an appeal and supersedeas from an order of the Circuit Court of Morgan *744 County entered December 11, 1970, which overruled a motion to set aside a judgment of that court entered on September 28, 1970, upon a verdict returned by a jury, finding that the hereinafter set forth and considered paper writing was the last will and testament of J. Hammond Siler, Jr. This case was heard on February 1, 1972, upon briefs and oral argument of counsel.

The appellant before this Court is Harry Y. Campbell, the sole heir at law on Siler’s paternal side, hereinafter referred to as the contestant. The Old National Bank of Martinsburg and R. Lewis Bentz as executors, and the legatees named in the holographic writing of August 6, 1962, some of whom are also heirs at law of Siler on his maternal side, are appellees, hereinafter referred to as proponents.

J. Hammond Siler, Jr., a seventy-year-old unmarried resident of Morgan County, West Virginia, died on September 24, 1969, as a result of injuries received in an automobile accident, survived only by paternal and maternal heirs at law. The record disclosed that he was a well-educated and widely-traveled gentleman; that he had held various responsible positions with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Virginia, prior to his retirement, and that there was no dispute that he had sufficient mental capacity at the date of the purported holographic will, or thereafter until his death, to execute a will.

The paper writing, dated August 6, 1962, purporting to be a will, and wholly in the handwriting of Siler, was found after his death in the bedroom of his residence, and the probate of this paper writing is the subject of this appeal. A careful search of Siler’s home and effects failed to disclose any other purported will.

Hereinafter reproduced is a copy of the holographic writing of August 6, 1962, which the proponent executors seek to establish as Siler’s will by this litigation.

*745

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In Re the Estate of Siler, 187 S.E.2d 606, 155 W. Va. 743, 1972 W. Va. LEXIS 220 (W. Va. 1972).

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