Miller Will

51 Pa. D. & C.2d 199, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 527
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedJanuary 6, 1971
Docketno. 1624 of 1969
StatusPublished

This text of 51 Pa. D. & C.2d 199 (Miller Will) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller Will, 51 Pa. D. & C.2d 199, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 527 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1971).

Opinion

BOLGER, J.,

is strictly a probate proceeding. The caption should not be “Estate of Dorothy A. Miller, Deceased,” but “Dorothy A. Miller Will,” and such substitution is hereby imposed.

[201]*201This case involves the validity of three testamentary writings of a mother wherein her daughter was disinherited. The daughter contests the probate of all three alleged wills admittedly containing testatrix’ signature and dated August 4, 1967. The beneficiary proponents include part-time domestics and a sometime handyman (second cousin) in Mrs. Miller’s household, all of whom had been paid for their past services. The contestant alleged that Mrs. Miller lacked testamentary capacity and was subjected to undue influence. The trial was before Judge Shoyer and a jüry upon certification by the register of wills that substantial issues of fact were involved. The jury sustained both charges as to all three documents and the chancellor approved the jury’s findings in a brief memorandum. Exceptions thereto were taken and a new trial or judgment n.o.v. requested.

The statement of questions involved in exceptants’ brief and at argument are limited to three in number and therefore all other exceptions are regarded as withdrawn.

The three questions are:

1. Did the weight of the evidence sustain the finding of the jury that decedent was of unsound mind at the time of the execution of her will and was such evidence sufficient to sustain contestant’s burden of proving undue influence?

2. Did the course of questioning on crossexamination by contestant’s counsel violate fundamental fairness and were not many of his specific questions prejudicially harmful to proponents?

3. Was it not error to include the name of Katherine Greeby in the special interrogatories to the jury pertaining to undue influence?

The chancellor found: “The evidence produced before the jury has conformed to the Chancellor’s ap[202]*202proval of the issues. The Chancellor accepts the special verdict of the jury and now expresses his satisfaction with the justness thereof on the basis of all the evidence.”

The scope of our review of the chancellor’s action is limited to determining whether his findings were based upon legally clear, competent and sufficient evidence or whether he committed an error of law: Dettra Wifi, 415 Pa. 197; Holtz Wiil, 422 Pa. 540; Abrams Will, 419 Pa. 92.

The verdict of the jury is advisory only: Orphans’ Court Act of August 10, 1951, as amended, Act of July 14, 1961, P. L. 610, 20 PS §2085.745(c); Abrams Will, supra. Probably the most important present facet of this case is the credibility of the witnesses. This was the function of the chanceüor and a court en banc can properly disregard the chancellor’s finding only in a clear case: Roberts Estate, 350 Pa. 467; Belmont Laboratories, Inc. v. Heist, 300 Pa. 542. It is our responsibility to now determine whether he was capricious and arbitrary. We cannot arrogate to ourselves the determination from the cold printed record whether we would have decided differently than the chanceüor who saw and heard the witnesses in the determination of whether the presumption of testamentary capacity was overcome by clear, strong and convincing evidence (Dettra Wül, supra, 201), or whether the finding of undue influence is supported by credible evidence or that the chanceüor committed error in refusing the withdrawal of a juror because of improper crossexamination by counsel for contestant which allegedly deprived the proponents of a fair trial and the inclusion of Mrs. Greeby among those who might have exercised undue influence.

The exceptants cite the principle of law that when a wiü drawn by a lawyer scrivener and witnessed by [203]*203two subscribing witnesses is established, the burden of proving testamentary incapacity or undue influence “can be sustained only by clear and strong or compelling evidence . . .” It is especially true when corroborated by an attending physician: Higbee Will, 365 Pa. 381, 382. As a part of their motion for judgment n.o.v., the proponents cite Roberts Will, 373 Pa. 7, 17, “. . . Tn Aggas v. Munnell, 302 Pa. 78 ... , the law is well stated: “Neither old age, nor its infirmities, including untidy habits, partial loss of memory, inability to recognize acquaintances, and incoherent speech, will deprive a person of the right to dispose of his own property . . Also cited is Lawrence’s Estate, 286 Pa. 58, which added debility of body, peculiar beliefs and opinions, incapacity to do business or partial failure of memory.

Respecting testamentary capacity, the statement quoted in Protyniak Will, 427 Pa. 524, is well established. The elements involved are intelligent knowledge regarding those who are the natural objects of his bounty, of what his estate consists and of what he desires done with it even though his memory has been impaired by age or disease. To this must be added, of course, that he must be aware of the nature of his act, i.e., that he is disposing of his property effective at his death: Paul Will, 407 Pa. 30.

The record provides certain incontrovertible facts which could not be ignored by the judge and jury nor denied by the proponents and they are: Dorothy A. Miller, testatrix, was 59 years old when she died on August 7, 1967, from a self-administered overdose of drugs. She had lived with her daughter, Claire, for 30 years. While pregnant with Claire, she suffered severe injuries in an automobile accident which permanently paralyzed her on the right side, her arm being useless and braces supported her right leg. There was also a [204]*204severe trauma to the left side of the brain controlling the decision-making power and other functions. Testatrix had separated from her husband in 1960 and was finally divorced in 1966, at which time the parties executed a deed for their home to Mrs. Miller and her daughter, Claire, as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Mrs. Miller was represented by counsel in her divorce action. The same counsel also prepared cross wills for Mrs. Miller and Claire in 1962. He was not the scrivener in the instant case.

Mrs. Miller’s married life had been marred by her husband’s heavy drinking. They lived in a constant state of turmoil, and it was in 1960 that Mrs. Miller slashed her husband’s wrists.

Testatrix was in and out of the following hospitals from 1952 to 1966: Roxborough Memorial Hospital on seven occasions with referrals therefrom to Fair-mount Farms, Eastern Psychiatric Institute and Magee Memorial Hospital. She was also a patient at Hahnemann Hospital. Fairmount Farms and Eastern Psychiatric Institute are institutions for nervous disorders; Magee Memorial Hospital specializes in physical and other forms of rehabilitation, in Mrs. Miller’s case, walking and speech therapy. In 1959 and 1960, Mrs. Miller took overdoses of drugs. The question of attempted suicide was raised in the record without objection. The hospital records from most of these institutions refer to dyaphasia and aphasia, speech and walking as well as other physical defects.

Mrs. Miller had been a bookkeeper at the family trucking business of Atkinson & Co., in Roxborough, in which she held a one-third interest, as well as a one-fourth interest in the building in which the business was conducted. Following her nearly fatal automobile accident about 1937, Mrs. Miller learned to write with her left hand and continued her busi[205]*205ness activity.

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Related

Williams v. McCarroll
97 A.2d 14 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1953)
Roberts Estate
39 A.2d 592 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1944)
Aggas v. Munnell
152 A. 840 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1930)
Freed's Estate
195 A. 22 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1937)
Lawrence's Estate
132 A. 786 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1926)
Hamberg v. Barsky
50 A.2d 345 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1946)
Belmont Laboratories, Inc. v. Heist
151 A. 15 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1930)
Leedom v. Palmer
117 A. 410 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1922)
Higbee Will
75 A.2d 599 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1950)
Roberts Will
94 A.2d 780 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1953)
Thompson Will
126 A.2d 740 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1956)
Paul Will
180 A.2d 254 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1962)
Dettra Will
202 A.2d 827 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1964)
Abrams Will
213 A.2d 638 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1965)
Holtz Will
222 A.2d 885 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)
Protyniak Will
235 A.2d 372 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1967)
Commonwealth v. Striepeke
32 Pa. Super. 82 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1906)
Lopresti v. Sulkin
49 Pa. Super. 417 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1912)

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Bluebook (online)
51 Pa. D. & C.2d 199, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 527, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-will-pactcomplphilad-1971.