Mitchell v. Van Scoyk

115 N.E.2d 226, 1 Ill. 2d 160, 1953 Ill. LEXIS 404
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 24, 1953
Docket32752
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 115 N.E.2d 226 (Mitchell v. Van Scoyk) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitchell v. Van Scoyk, 115 N.E.2d 226, 1 Ill. 2d 160, 1953 Ill. LEXIS 404 (Ill. 1953).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Fulton

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a decree of the circuit court of Clark County finding and declaring that certain instruments purporting to be the will and codicil of Samuel James, deceased, are not his will and codicil, setting aside said instruments and declaring the probate thereof null and void. The decree was entered upon the verdict of a jury and in conformity with its findings in an action brought by appellee, Katie Mitchell, a daughter of the deceased and his sole heir, to contest the will and codicil of Samuel James. The defendants in the circuit court were E. B. “Bruff” Van Scoyk, individually arid as executor of said purported will and codicil, Martha Spear, the Presbyterian Church of Mattoon, Illinois, the Baptist Church, of Westfield, Illinois, Edmund Ramey, Doit Biggs, and Kenneth A. Green. Only the executor and Martha Spear have appealed.

Samuel James died at Westfield on August 29, 1950, and the instruments putporting to be his will and a codicil thereto were admitted to probate in the county court of Clark County on September 29 of that year. The will bears the date of October 11, 1949, and the codicil is dated December 3, 1949. The will gives to Martha Spear, a sister of the deceased, all of deceased’s personal property (except a bequest of $500 to the Presbyterian Church of Mattoon) as well as a 120-acre farm in Clark County. The will devises 40 acres of land in Coles County to the daughter, Katie Mitchell, provided that she does not contest the will, and further provides that if she brings any proceeding to contest, the 40 acres shall be sold and the proceeds paid to the Baptist Church of Westfield. The instrument provides that if Martha Spear predeceases the testator or “die before distribution of the devise and bequest to her has been made and before the time when her receipts for said distribution are filed with the proper court,” then $2000 of the amount bequeathed to her shall be paid to Edmund Ramey and the entire balance to “my good friend E. B. “Bruff” Van Scoyk, who lives in Westfield, Illinois.” The will names E. B. “Bruff” Van Scoyk as executor and provides that in the event he is unable to serve or declines, Doit Biggs shall be successor executor. The instrument further directs that the executor employ as his attorney, Kenneth A. Green, an attorney at law of Mattoon. The codicil in question contains no changes or additions. It states that the testator, “feeling that it would be well at this time to re-state, ratify and confirm the provisions of said last will and testament, makes the codicil.” The codicil recites that testator has studied the provisions of the will immediately prior to executing the codicil and is satisfied with its provisions and that he therefore re-states, ratifies and confirms each and every provision of the instrument referred to. The will was witnessed by Mary and Newton Leith of Westfield and Ila Mae Bingaman of Mattoon, the secretary of attorney Kenneth A. Green who prepared the will. The codicil was witnessed by Robert and Virginia Shawver of Westfield. All of the witnesses to the will were witnesses at the trial in the circuit court but neither witness to the codicil testified. None of the persons named in the will was related to deceased except Martha Spear and Katie Mitchell.

The complaint filed in the circuit court alleges that Samuel James was not of sound mind and memory at the time of the execution of the instruments and that the will and codicil were procured by the undue influence and fraudulent misrepresentations o"f Martha Spear and E. B. “Bruff” Van Scoyk, setting forth particularly the acts of undue influence and fraudulent misrepresentations complained of. The answer of the defendants is in form a general denial, except that the Baptist Church of Westfield has filed a disclaimer so that the property which might come to it would revert to the estate and to Katie Mitchell as sole heir of the deceased. The cause was tried twice before a jury. At the first trial the jury was unable to agree. Upon the second trial the jury reached a verdict finding the issues for the plaintiff and that the will and codicil in evidence were not the last will and testament and codicil of Samuel James, deceased. At the trial defendants made motions for a directed verdict generally and upon the issues of unsoundness of mind and undue influence separately, both at the close of plaintiff’s case and after defendants had introduced their evidence and rested. These motions were overruled. Motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, in arrest of judgment and for a new trial were also made but were denied by the trial court. Numerous assignments of error have been made but only those argued will be considered as assignments of error made, and those not argued will be deemed to have been waived. (Horner v. Jamieson, 394 Ill. 222; Creighton v. Elgin, 395 Ill. 87; People ex rel. Nelson v. Olympic Hotel Building Corp. 405 Ill. 440.) The principal assignments of error to be considered here are (1) denial of the motions for directed verdict and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, (2) that the verdict is not supported by the evidence as a whole, and (3) errors assigned upon the admission and exclusion of certain evidence.

Preliminary to a discussion of these various assignments of error it will be well to state some of the undisputed facts which are established by the evidence on both sides of this controversy. Samuel James was 91 years of age at the time of the execution of the purported will and codicil. Had he lived another month he would have been 92 years of age at the time of his death. During his lifetime he had acquired considerable money and property so that at the time of his death his estate was valued át about $50,000. The value of the 40 acres bequeathed to his daughter, Katie, is about $5400. The value of the remainder of the estate, all of which was to go to his sister, Martha Spear, and on certain contingencies to Van Scoyk, was valued at $44,332.37. These amounts exclude more than $12,000 transferred to Martha Spear in 1949 during his lifetime. Though of considerable means, Samuel James had always lived frugally and dressed poorly. He had been somewhat eccentric, preferring to “batch it” in a small shack on his farm rather than associate with others. In the later years of his life he had lived with his sister, Martha Spear, in a home in Westfield which they owned together. He had never owned an automobile but travelled between his farm and Westfield in a mule-drawn wagon. This he did up to the time he was about 89 years of age.

The health of James had been fairly good up' through the year 1947 but during the year 1948 it began to decline rather rapidly due to his advanced age. He was bothered with a kidney and bladder ailment and had trouble controlling his bowels. He is described by some witnesses during the year 1948 as being filthy and dirty and given to filthy habits. He last visited his farm in the fall of 1948 at which time, according to one of defendants’ witnesses, he could not walk “to do any good.” This same witness stated that James had trouble getting around from 1947 onward and that his walking did not improve any from 1948 until the time of his death.

During the entire year of 1949 and from then on until his death it appears that James was confined to the house in Westfield where he lived with his sister. He is described by witnesses for both sides, who observed him during this period, as a feeble old man.

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Bluebook (online)
115 N.E.2d 226, 1 Ill. 2d 160, 1953 Ill. LEXIS 404, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitchell-v-van-scoyk-ill-1953.