Oroszy v. Burkard

158 So. 2d 405
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 3, 1963
Docket935
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 158 So. 2d 405 (Oroszy v. Burkard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oroszy v. Burkard, 158 So. 2d 405 (La. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

158 So.2d 405 (1963)

Succession of Rose Von Dreis OROSZY, Plaintiff and Appellee,
v.
Herman BURKARD et al., Defendants and Appellants.

No. 935.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

December 3, 1963.

*406 Edwards & Edwards, by Edwin W. Edwards, Crowley, for defendants-appellants.

Bruner, Mayeux & Landry, by J. W. Landry, Jr., Crowley, for plaintiff-appellee.

Lawrence G. Pugh, Jr., Crowley, for defendants.

Before SAVOY, FRUGE and HOOD, JJ.

HOOD, Judge.

This is an action for a declaratory judgment interpreting certain provisions of the last will and testament of Mrs. Rose Von Dreis Oroszy, deceased. The suit was instituted by the Bank of Commerce & Trust Company of Crowley, as the executor of the will, against all of the surviving collateral relatives of the decedent. Plaintiff alleges, and it is apparent from the record, that a controversy has arisen between the executor and the defendant heirs as to whether the remainder of the decedent's net estate, after distributing the special legacies, should be delivered to the defendant heirs, or should be delivered to the Bank of Commerce & Trust Company, as trustee under a charitable trust created by the will. The answer to that question depends largely upon a determination of whether a charitable trust was or was not established by the will.

After trial on the merits, judgment was rendered by the trial court decreeing that a valid trust, in accordance with the provisions of LSA-R.S. 9:2271, was created under the will, ordering that plaintiff bank be confirmed as the trustee, and authorizing the executor to deliver to said trustee all of the remainder of the funds and property belonging to the estate after paying all claims and special legacies. Defendants have appealed.

*407 The testament involved here is in olographic form, written in pen and ink on four pages. The first page and the last page are on ruled paper, and they are joined together so as to form one long sheet, folded so that it forms two legal size pages. The second and third pages of the will are written on two separate sheets of unruled legal size paper, and these two sheets have been inserted between the first and last pages of the testament. All of the writing on these four pages is in the hand of the testatrix, except for the signatures of four witnesses which appear in two places on the document. There is no contention that the signatures of these witnesses in any way affect the validity of the will.

Defendants do not attack the validity of the entire will. They do contend, however, that portions of the testament are invalid or have been voided by the testatrix, and they disagree with plaintiff as to the interpretation which should be placed on some of the remaining portions of the will.

Defendants contend primarily that several paragraphs on pages two and three of the will have been voided by "X" marks made on those pages by the testatrix, and accordingly, that the paragraphs so marked out cannot be considered as parts of the will.

There are six paragraphs on page two of the testament, and practically all of the writing on that page is in green ink. On this page there appear three or four large "X" marks, written very lightly with a lead pencil. These marks are so faint, and appear to have been written with so little pressure on the pencil, that it is difficult to see them at all or to locate them on the page. Because of the faintness and irregularity of these marks, it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine where a line begins or ends, but generally it appears that one "X" mark partially covers the first paragraph and one covers a part of the last paragraph of that page. The remaining pencil marks are so indistinct that it is difficult to determine whether they were intended as one or two "X" marks, but generally they appear to cover parts of the third paragraph on that page. The marks which defendants have pointed out on page three of the will are of the same type as those appearing on page two, but they affect provisions of the will which relate only to a special legacy or to other matters which are not at issue here. It is immaterial to this case, therefore, whether any effect is given to the marks appearing on page three.

In Succession of Butterworth, 195 La. 115, 196 So. 39, the only case cited and relied on by defendants, double lines had been drawn through the words "also my undivided interest in timber lands," which words were included as a part of the description of property being bequeathed to a trust estate created by the testatrix's olographic will. The question presented was whether the marking out of these words, by drawing lines through them, had the effect of eliminating the timber lands from that particular bequest. The evidence, including the testimony of a handwriting expert, showed that the lines had been drawn by the hand of the testatrix and that it was her intention in doing so that the timber lands were not to be included in the trust so created. Under those circumstances our Supreme Court held that the "erasure" should be given effect, notwithstanding the fact that the testatrix had failed to approve the "erasure" in writing, as required by LSA-C.C. Article 1589.

We agree with defendants that a testator, by drawing lines through words or over some writing in his olographic will, may cancel portions of the will or he may revoke it in toto, provided that the evidence establishes that the lines were drawn by the hand of the testator and that in doing so the testator actually intended to cancel or revoke all or specific portions of the will.

In the instant suit the evidence does not show that the "X" marks hereinabove described were made by the testatrix. On *408 the contrary, the nature of the marks themselves indicates that she did not make them. Since all of the other writing by the testatrix was in pen and ink, it seems improbable that she would have used such faint and almost imperceptible pencil marks to void important provisions of the will if she in fact intended for those marks to have that effect. Also, there are other light pencil marks on the will, including two question marks on the margin of page two and a circle around a few words on page three, which it seems unlikely would have been made by the testatrix. But, even if the "X" marks pointed out by defendants had been made by the testatrix, the marks themselves do not indicate an intention on her part to revoke or void any provision of the will and, as has already been pointed out, there is no evidence in the record which in any way tends to show that the testatrix had such an intent.

We conclude that the penciled "X" marks appearing on pages two and three of the will do not have the effect of voiding any part of the testament, and that those particular marks must be ignored in considering the validity or interpretation of that document.

Defendants contend next that pages two and three of the will are invalid for lack of definite dates. No question is raised about the first and last pages of the testament, each of which is dated February 26, 1960. There is no legal requirement, as far as we know, that every page of an olographic will be dated, and we do not mean to imply here that there is any such requirement. We feel that the defendants' argument must be considered, however, because it actually challenges the validity of the entire will on the ground that it lacks a certain date, although defendants, claim that only a part of the will should be ignored.

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Bluebook (online)
158 So. 2d 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oroszy-v-burkard-lactapp-1963.