Lee v. Lee

413 S.W.2d 931, 1967 Tex. App. LEXIS 2795
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 24, 1967
Docket16802
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 413 S.W.2d 931 (Lee v. Lee) 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
Lee v. Lee, 413 S.W.2d 931, 1967 Tex. App. LEXIS 2795 (Tex. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

OPINION

LANGDON, Justice.

This is a will contest. The testator, John W. Lee, Sr., died May 22, 1964, at the age of 90 years. His wife, Emma Lee, predeceased him, dying intestate in 1946. The contestants (appellees here) are Lon Lee and Gladys Barbee, joined by her husband, Winifred Barbee. Lon Lee and Gladys Barbee, children of the testator, each received a specific bequest of $10.00 under the terms of the will.

The proponents (appellants herein) are John W. Lee, Jr., Individually and as Independent Executor of the Estate of J. W. Lee, Sr. and Winifred C. Lee, Ethel Lee Lambert, a feme sole, Roy Lee and Kenneth Lee, the remaining children of testator who were residuary beneficiaries under the will.

The will was a self-proving will. It was duly probated in the County Court of Montague County, Texas, in Cause No. 5467 on June 22, 1964. The executor qualified on that same date.

Thereafter, on June 29, 1964, contest .was filed by appellees in said County Court on the ground that the testator (a) lacked testamentary capacity; and (b) was unduly influenced. After trial to the County Court without the intervention of a jury, the County Court refused to set aside its former order probating the will.

On appeal to the District Court the trial was to a jury on the sole issue of testamentary capacity. The jury found that the testator “was of unsound mind.” The trial court overruled appellants’ motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict which was predicated on: no evidence, in *932 sufficient evidence and as being so against the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the testimony as to be manifestly wrong.

Judgment was entered on the verdict on June 17, 1966. Motion for new trial filed by proponents based upon the same grounds was overruled. The appellants’ three points of error are consistent with the grounds above stated. We reverse and render.

For many years the testator, John W. Lee, Sr., owned and operated a store in Spanish Fort. He disposed of it and opened a grocery store in Nocona, Montague County, Texas, which he operated for a number of years before he sold it to his son, Winifred Lee, in 1956. After this date he continued to come to the store and sit around the office and visit with his friends until shortly before he died. Gladys Barbee, a daughter and one of the contestants, had lived in testator’s house caring for him and working in his store, both before and after her marriage particularly the period 1958-1959 until she and her husband were injured in an automobile collision in July, 1961. Thereafter, for a short time, testator lived with his daughter Mrs. Lambert and, after leaving Mrs. Lambert’s house, lived the rest of his life in the home of his son Winifred.

Several days before October 2, 1961, the date of the execution of the will, Mr. John W. Lee, Sr., entered the office of Mr. Earl Fitts, attorney in Nocona, Texas. Mr. Fitts, lifelong resident of Montague County, and member of that county’s bar since 1933 had known Mr. Lee for a period of 15 years or perhaps longer, and had done legal work for him in the past including income tax reports, preparation of deeds and collection of accounts. At the time of his visit Mr. Lee requested Mr. Fitts to draw a will for him. He explained how he wanted it drawn and what he wanted to do with his property. He discussed the nature and extent of his property and who he wanted to receive it. He named his children and requested Mr. Fitts to put them in his will as the beneficiaries. Fitts made notes as he talked with Mr. Lee. He prepared the will according to the information he obtained and, “like Mr. Lee told me he wanted it prepared." At the time Mr. Lee discussed the preparation of the will and again on the occasion he signed it he understood the nature of the transaction in which he was involved. He knew what he was doing, that he was making a will.

At the time Mr. Lee came to the office to discuss preparation of the will and when he reappeared to sign it he walked into the office alone and unassisted on each occasion. No one accompanied him either to or from the office on either occasion. No one drove him to the office or waited outside for him.

On October 2, 1961 when Mr. Lee returned to the office Mr. Fitts had completed preparation of the will in line with Mr. Lee’s previous instructions. The will was handed to Mr. Lee and he read it. Mr_ Fitts explained to him that it would be necessary to have two witnesses and a notary public in order to make it a self proved will. Mr. Lee then said, “Well,, you could be a witness, can’t you?” Mr. Fitts said he could. Mr. J. P. Janeway, a native of Montague County, a resident of Nocona since 1922, an employee of the-postoffice, and a person who had been acquainted with Mr. Lee since 1915, was observed standing across the street. He was. summoned to the office by Mr. Lee and Fitts. Janeway, at the request of Mr. Lee,, agreed to act as a witness.

Mr. Clifton C. Willard, an insurance-man with offices nearby, who had resided about 15 years in a residence just south of Nocona and had been acquainted with Mr. Lee for at least 10 or 15 years, was called in by Mr. Fitts to serve as notary public..

It is undisputed that Mr. Lee signed the will in two places in the presence of the two witnesses, Fitts and Janeway, and the notary public and that the two witnesses signed the will at the request of *933 and in the presence of Mr. Lee and of one another and the notary public. All signatures were duly subscribed and acknowledged before the notary public whose signature and seal were affixed.

There is no question under this record hut that the will was prepared by Fitts at the sole request of Mr. Lee and in exact accordance with the latter’s instructions, and that it complied with all of the requisites of a self proved will.

The will contained the names of all of the testator’s children and the second page, beginning with Paragraph VII thereof reads as follows: “After expressing my love and affection for all of my children, my other relatives and friends, I still desire to demise my property and my estate as set out above.

“THIS I MAKE AND PUBLISH as my last will and testament, hereby signing and subscribing my name this the 2nd day of October A. D. 1961. /s/ John W. Lee Sr Testator.”
“THE STATE OF TEXAS ]
COUNTY OF MONTAGUE J

“Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared John W. Lee Sr., and Earl C. Fitts and J. P. Jane-way known to me to be the testator and witnesses respectively, whose names are subscribed to the annexed or foregoing instrument in their respective capacities, and, all of said persons being by me duly sworn, the said John W.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
413 S.W.2d 931, 1967 Tex. App. LEXIS 2795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-lee-texapp-1967.