Pacetti v. Rowlinski

150 S.E. 910, 169 Ga. 602, 1929 Ga. LEXIS 418
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedDecember 16, 1929
DocketNo. 7003
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 150 S.E. 910 (Pacetti v. Rowlinski) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pacetti v. Rowlinski, 150 S.E. 910, 169 Ga. 602, 1929 Ga. LEXIS 418 (Ga. 1929).

Opinion

Russell, C. J.

William E. Bowlinski offered for probate in the court of ordinary of Chatham County a paper purporting to be the will of his brother, Bobert A. Bowlinski. Mrs. Bertha Bowlinski Pacetti filed a caveat, and upon the hearing in the court of ordinary the will was set up. Appeal was taken to the superior court, and the case is here upon bill of exceptions to the direction of a verdict by that court. Exception is also taken to a ruling by which an offered amendment to the caveat was-stricken upon motion.

Two questions are presented for adjudication, and we shall deal ivith them in their appropriate order. It appears that the third ground of the original caveat was stricken by the court before the amendment was offered, but no exception is taken to this; and therefore it is unnecessary to examine the ground upon which this paragraph of the caveat was based. The amendment which the court struck set forth that the deceased ivas fearful that his wife would obtain his property before he could obtain a divorce, and that a few days after the execution of the will the deceased and his wife executed a contract under which the deceased paid his wife $5000 for the surrender of her marital rights in his property. Further, it is stated that a total divorce Avas granted between the deceased and his wife, and after divorce the wife had no right in his estate as a matter of law. “Caveatrix says that the will, hav[604]*604ing been drawn for the purpose of defeating any claim his said wife may have had in his estate, and the deceased and his wife having made settlement of all their property rights, and thereafter a total divorce having been granted, that the divorce coupled with the settlement of the property rights between the parties impliedly revoked the will of the deceased, and the proposed will was not valid at the time of the death of the deceased.” Able and industrious counsel for the plaintiff in error have cited a large number of cases from other jurisdictions in support of the' contention that where the status and responsibilities of a testator change after the making of a will, the will is revoked where the testator has been divorced and had a property settlement with his late wife. Counsel quote also from 9 E. C". L. 495, § 316, in reference to divorces revoking wills: “The doctrine that a settlement of property rights, made by the parties in anticipation of divorce, impliedly revokes a will, finds, strong support in the authorities.”

While the authorities cited might be persuasive authority in the absence of any Georgia law upon the subject, we do not deem them to be in point in this case. Section 3923 of the Code gives but two instances as circumstances in which the revocation of a will is implied by law: “The marriage of the testator, or the birth of a child to him, subsequently to the making of a will in which no provision is made in contemplation of such an event.” In this case it is not contended that there was an express revocation, or that a later will was made. The amendment was based upon the theory that the deceased in making the will was acting under an insane delusion that his wife might get a part of the estate in which he did not wish her to participate; and it appears from the first item of the will that the deceased was not subject to monomania, because he knew that he had provided an ample safeguard against such a contingency by a contract of settlement with his wife. “A misconception as to a particular matter can not properly be characterized an insane delusion, when it does not spring up spontaneously from a disordered intellect, but is the result of an erroneous conclusion, based either upon a mistake of fact or upon an illogical deduction drawn from facts as they really exist.” Bohler v. Hicks, 120 Ga. 800 (2) (48 S. E. 306). In Hargroves v. Redd, 43 Ga. 142, 157, it was said by Mr. Justice McCay: “It will be found, 1 think, that the classifications of our Code pretty nearly, if not quite, [605]*605exhaust the subject [of revocation]. . . 4th. Revocations by change of domestic relations, which, by our law, is confined to two specified changes, to wit: marriage, or the birth of a child subsequent to the making of a will in which no provision is made in contemplation of such an event.” It was further said: “The very meaning of the word revoke involves a change of mind in the testator. A careful consideration of the different acts which the books and the statute treat as evidence of revocation will show that the idea of a change of mind of the testator is a fundamental one in questions of revocation. There is some act of the testator, some exercise of his will, by which he either expressly recalls his previous disposition, or from which the law implies that he intended so to do. I do not think a case can be found, where a will has been held to be revoked by anything else than the testator’s own act.” And likewise we are of the opinion that under the Georgia statutes no case can be found which would authorize the conclusion that a divorce under the circumstances set forth in this record could possibly authorize the implication that the deceased had revoked his will.

The writer adheres to the view expressed in Miraglia v. Gose, 17 Ga. App. 639 (87 S. E. 906), quoted by the plaintiff in error: “Whether a trial judge has erred in directing a verdict can not be other-wise determined than by the inquiry whether, from any view of the evidence, inferences may be drawn favorable to the adverse party, upon which the jury might lawfully find contrary to such direction.” In fact we are of the opinion that a verdict should not be directed if there is any evidence at all which would authorize a jury by any reasonable inference to find a different verdict from that directed. However, a jury is not authorized to find a verdict upon mere suspicion, nor are they permitted to rest a finding upon inferences which are not supported or even warranted by evidence. The propounder made a perfect prima facie case. The execution of the paper offered for probate was shown to have been properly witnessed as required by law, and it was also shown that the testator was of sound mind. All the essentials necessary to make a prima facie case were clearly established. This being so, the burden of proof was shifted from the propounder, and it devolved upon the caveatrix to establish the claims of her caveat before it could be said that there was any issue before the jury. There were only two [606]*606grounds of caveat submitted to the jury. The first set up that Eobert A. Rowlinski was not of sound and disposing mind and memory as regarded the members of his family, which particular unsoundness of mind affected the making of the purported will. The second ground set up that the deceased, immediately before the drawing of the paper, had difficulty with his second wife and later separated from her and made a settlement upon her, and that the fear that she might get his property or some part of it upon his death preyed upon his mind and obsessed him; that he suffered from monomania and his mental faculties worked solely upon the theory of cutting off any inheritance to Ms late wife, etc. It appears from a full review of the evidence that not a witness, not even the caveatrix herself, swore that Robert A.

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Bluebook (online)
150 S.E. 910, 169 Ga. 602, 1929 Ga. LEXIS 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pacetti-v-rowlinski-ga-1929.