Kveton v. Keding

286 S.W. 673, 1926 Tex. App. LEXIS 732
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 25, 1926
DocketNo. 8776. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 286 S.W. 673 (Kveton v. Keding) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kveton v. Keding, 286 S.W. 673, 1926 Tex. App. LEXIS 732 (Tex. Ct. App. 1926).

Opinions

In September, 1920, appellant Frank Kveton filed his application in the county court of Austin county praying for the probate of a will alleged to be the will of his father, John Kveton, Sr.

Appellees contested said application, and, upon a hearing in the county court, the probate of the will was refused. From such judgment of refusal proponent, Frank Kveton, appealed to the district court. Upon a hearing in the district court, judgment was rendered probating the will, and upon appeal from such judgment this court reversed the same and remanded the cause. Keding et al. v. Kveton, 254 S.W. 612.

After the cause had been remanded for trial by the district court, proponent filed a supplemental plea in which he alleged that the *Page 674 original will had been lost since it was first filed for probate, and filed an agreed copy thereof in lieu of the original.

Contestants denied that the will offered for probate was the will of John Kveton, Sr., deceased, and alleged that, if it be shown that deceased did execute the same, he did so when old and while feeble in mind and body, and that proponent, Frank Kveton, took advantage of such conditions, and unduly influenced him to execute the same, and that the will was not, therefore, the will of John Kveton, Sr., but was the will of proponent, Frank Kveton, the principal beneficiary under the will as written. They denied that the will was executed by John Kveton, Sr., at all, but say that, if it was, it was not executed in manner and form so as to constitute it a lawful will.

On the 12th day of January, 1925, the cause again came on for trial in the district court, and, after the proponent had introduced his evidence, the court, upon motion of contestants, instructed a verdict for contestants. Such verdict was returned, and judgment was rendered, refusing the probate of the will. Proponent has appealed.

The issues presented on appeal are, first, did John Kveton, Sr., sign the will offered for probate? Second, did the purported attesting witnesses sign the same at the request of John Kveton, and, if so, had the will at such time been signed by him or by some one authorized by him to sign the same for him?

Appellant takes the position that the evidence was such as should have required the trial judge to submit the issues named to the jury, and that his refusal so to do and his act in instructing a verdict for appellees were such errors as should cause a reversal of the judgment

The will offered for probate was as follows:

"We, the undersigned John Kveton and wife Anna Kveton of Austin county, Texas, being of sound mind and memory and understanding, do hereby make our last will and testament in manner and form as follows:

"It is our will and we decide, that the survivor of us shall remain in full possession of all our property, both real and personal, whatsoever and wheresoever it may be, and after the death of both of us, our son Frank Kveton shall receive all of our present farm, consisting of 264 acres of land, our present homestead, with improvements thereon, situated on Bernardo prairie in Austin county, Texas. He shall be the sole owner of said farm, after paying his sisters, our daughters Johanna Keding, née Kveton, wife of August Keding, and Josephine Lux, wife of Ferdinand Lux, both of Austin county, Texas, the sum of ($300.00) three hundred dollars each.

"It is our will and we decide, that our balance of our personal property, whatsoever and wheresoever it may be, be divided among our above named three children, share and share alike, after all funeral expenses for both of us have been paid.

"We hereby appoint our son Frank Kveton and our son-in-law, Ferdinand Lux, executors of this our last will and testament without bond, revoking all other wills heretofore made by us.

"Witness our hands this the 19th day of February, A.D. 1914.

"John Kveton, Sen.

her

"Anna X Kveton.

mark

"Signed and declared by the said John Kveton and his wife Anna Kveton as and for their last will and testament, in the presence of us, who at their request and in their presence and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witness.

"Sealy, Tex., February 19, A.D. 1914.

"Aug. Iselt.

"Otto Kohllefel."

It was shown that at the time of the trial A. Ludwig, a notary public, who drafted the instrument offered for probate as the will of John Kveton, was dead; that on the 19th day of February, 1914, A. Ludwig, who drew the instrument, went to a house 33 steps from his residence, which was being built by August Iselt and Otto Kohllefel, and told said parties that Mr. and Mrs. Kveton were making a will, and that they had to have two witnesses, and requested the parties to go to his office, which was in his dwelling house, and sign the will as witnesses; that such request was made in the German language in an ordinary tone of voice; said parties went to Ludwig's office, and there they found John Kveton, Sr., and wife sitting in said office; that the paper purporting to be the will of Kveton and wife was lying on the table a short distance only from where Kveton and wife were sitting, both of whom possessed the faculties of sight and hearing usually possessed by people of their age, they being about 70 years of age; that, when said parties entered said office, they bid Kveton and wife "good morning" or "good evening"; that neither Kveton or wife told them that the instrument was their will, nor requested them to sign as attesting witnesses, nor did they say anything to said parties with reference to said instrument.

Under the circumstances above stated, both of said parties signed the instrument as attesting witnesses. At the last trial it was shown that the witness August Iselt was dead, and his testimony given upon a former trial was introduced in evidence. The substance of that testimony, material to the issues, is as follows:

"We were building a house for Mr. Ludwig in Sealy. We were both carpenters, doing carpenter work. Mr. Ludwig came over there, and wanted us to sign a will. That is what he told us, We went over to his house, and signed it. When we got over there to his house, he did not read the instrument over to us, and I do not know what it was. I signed the instrument there, but I don't know whether Mr. Kveton signed it or not. I did not see him sign it. Mr. Kveton did not ask me to sign *Page 675 the instrument. He did not say anything to me.

"I did not know what the paper was only Mr. Ludwig told us to sign a will for them as witnesses. He did not say just at the moment we signed it was their will, but he told us it was their will, Mr. Ludwig did. He did not tell us in the house; he told us out there where we were at work that it was their will — that is where Mr. Ludwig told us. He told us out at the house where we were building, which was about as far from the house as from here to across the street.

"I did not speak to John Kveton at all in the house except to say good morning or good day or something like that, and that is all he said to me. I said that we went in there to sign a will for John Kveton and his wife. At that time I did not know who the woman was. I might have seen her before, but I never was introduced to her, and I could not tell; I did not know her. * * *

"We simply signed the paper that Mr. Ludwig handed to me; signed that, and we then went back to work; that is right. When going back, I told Mr. Kohllefel that that was the first paper that I ever signed without knowing what it was — that we ought to have had him read it.

"When I said I did not know what it was, I mean I did not know what the instrument contained, because I did not read it, and he did not read it to us.

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Bluebook (online)
286 S.W. 673, 1926 Tex. App. LEXIS 732, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kveton-v-keding-texapp-1926.