Keith v. Graham

218 Cal. App. 2d 827, 32 Cal. Rptr. 617, 1963 Cal. App. LEXIS 1854
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 1, 1963
DocketCiv. No. 266
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 218 Cal. App. 2d 827 (Keith v. Graham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keith v. Graham, 218 Cal. App. 2d 827, 32 Cal. Rptr. 617, 1963 Cal. App. LEXIS 1854 (Cal. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

CONLEY, P. J.

This is an appeal from an order admitting to probate the last will and testament of Jessie Sauls. The contestants, Violet Keith, a niece of decedent, and Henry Cadwell, who was beneficiary under a preceding holographic will, appeal.

The decision of this case requires the application of the well-established rule that if a trial court has substantial evidence to support its findings and order, the appellate court is without power to interfere with the conclusion of the court below. Our review is necessarily limited then to the question whether or not the trial judge had ample evidence upon which to base his findings; if the answer is affirmative, we must approve the order, even if there is other evidence in the record which, if it had been accepted by the trier of fact, would have justified a contrary order equally unassailable on appeal.

In Estate of Bristol, 23 Cal.2d 221, 223 [143 P.2d 689], it is said: “The rules of evidence, the weight to be accorded to the evidence, and the province of a reviewing [830]*830court, are the same in a will contest as in any other civil case.”

In Estate of Teel, 25 Cal.2d 520, 527 [154 P.2d 384], the Supreme Court points out the duty of an appellate court in reviewing a decision in a will contest as follows: “All of the evidence most favorable to the respondent must be accepted as true, and that unfavorable discarded as not having sufficient verity to be accepted by the trier of fact. If the evidence so viewed is sufficient as a matter of law, the judgment must be affirmed. ’ ’

(See also Estate of Barr, 69 Cal.App. 16, 33 [230 P. 181]; Estate of Snowball, 157 Cal. 301, 305 [107 P. 598]; Estate of Jamison, 41 Cal.2d 1, 13 [256 P.2d 984]; Estate of Kirk, 161 Cal.App.2d 145, 150 [326 P.2d 151].)

Viewed in accordance with the foregoing rules, the evidence was ample to support the trial judge’s decision on each of the two grounds upon which the will contest was based: (1) the claim that decedent was not of sound and disposing mind at the time she executed the will, and (2) the allegation that she was subjected to undue influence by the beneficiary under the will, Mary Elizabeth Graham.

Jessie Ann Sauls was admitted to the City Hospital in Modesto on November 8, 1961. For several months she had been suffering from illness involving congestive heart failure and arteriosclerosis; she recently had had an acute episode of difficult breathing and nervousness. Her regular family doctor, David J. Jamieson, was unavailable, and an office associate of his, Dr. D. W. Semmens, was in actual attendance.

On the day after her admission Mrs. Sauls was visited both in the morning and afternoon by Mrs. Graham, who was the sister of Mrs. Sauls’ deceased husband, and by Mr. Graham. Mrs. Sauls later that day told another patient, Beverly Johnson, who occupied the hospital room with her, that she wanted to see Mrs. Graham. And on November 10 she again told Mrs. Johnson that she wished to talk with Mrs. Graham.

On the afternoon of November 10, Mrs. Graham and her husband came again to the hospital, and Mrs. Sauls told her that she wanted to have a will drawn on that day, and according to Mrs. Graham’s testimony, said to her, “You’ve been the only one in my family that’s ever done anything for me and ever taken care of me. ... I want you to take over and I want you to pay my doctor bills and hospital bills. . . . Honey, if there is fifty cents left, I want you to [831]*831have it, . . .” Mrs. Johnson, also in the room, heard the conversation.

The Grahams had a will drawn by an attorney in accordance with the directions given by Mrs. Sauls and returned with it to the hospital between 6 and 8 o’clock that evening. Mrs. Graham asked the nurse, Alta Walter, to come into Mrs. Sauls’ room to read the will to her and to witness it if it should be executed by her. Mrs. Walter and a second nurse, Sylvia Wigger, went into the room after Mrs. Walter checked her chart to determine whether Mrs. Sauls had taken any narcotic. Mrs. Walter read the entire will to Mrs. Sauls, a part at a time, asking her as she read whether or not she understood it. When Mrs. Walter finished reading, she asked Mrs. Sauls if this was what she wanted, and Mrs. Sauls replied, “Yes.” After Mrs. Sauls personally examined the will, it was formally executed.

There is no question as to compliance with the formal requisites for the execution. The court found: “That said Will is in writing signed by the testatrix and attested by three subscribing witnesses. That said testatrix acknowledged the Will in the presence of said witnesses, present at the same time, and that said witnesses signed the said Will at the request of said testatrix in the presence of said testatrix, and in the presence of each other. ’ ’

But contestants urge that Jessie Ann Sauls did not at the time she signed it have the mental capacity to execute a will. On direct examination Alta Walter testified that when Mrs. Sauls signed the document all of the witnesses were present, that the testatrix stated that the document was her will, that she asked the witnesses to sign as such, and that Mrs. Sauls was of sound and disposing mind and memory at the time. On cross-examination Mrs. Walter said that by November 10 Mrs. Sauls had improved from the time when she was admitted and that “she knew what she was doing” when she executed the will; the witness read the will to Mrs. Sauls, because she wanted to be sure that Mrs. Sauls knew what she was signing before she, Mrs. Walter, placed her own name on it as a witness. Afterwards, Mrs. Sauls read or looked over the will herself. The decedent did not need, and was not given, any assistance in writing. The nurse also testified that the reason she said Mrs. Sauls was improved was that when Mrs. Sauls was admitted to the hospital she didn’t know what she was doing; she had spells of being confused the following day or two, but her mental condition improved. [832]*832Mrs. Walter also testified that Mrs. Sauls told her in a conversation about 3 or 3:30 p.m. on November 10, that she had a personal matter to complete with Mrs. Graham and that she wanted Mrs. Graham to help her make out her will.

Sylvia Wigger, a licensed vocational nurse, was present in. the hospital on November 8, when Mrs. Sauls was admitted; she testified that the decedent was then quite confused and restless; the witness saw her at about 4 p.m. on November 9, at which time Mrs. Sauls was quiet and said she was “Pretty good.” The nurse gave her a phenobarbital tablet. She saw her at about 3:30 p.m. on November 10, and spoke to her as she passed her room going down the hall; Mrs. Sauls returned the greeting; about 5 p.m., at meal time, the nurse asked her how she felt; Mrs. Sauls replied, “Pretty good”; Nurse Wigger said, “You look better today,” and she said, “I feel better.’’ The nurse testified Mrs. Sauls did not appear to be upset and that she fed herself. About 6:30 or 7 o ’clock in'the evening Nurse Wigger was called into the room to witness the will; Mrs. Sauls then appeared to be quite alert, and she took the will in her hands and signed it without help. On cross-examination, the witness testified that at the time of signing the will Mrs. Sauls was receiving nasal oxygen, but she was not under an .oxygen tent. Mrs.

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218 Cal. App. 2d 827, 32 Cal. Rptr. 617, 1963 Cal. App. LEXIS 1854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keith-v-graham-calctapp-1963.