Swisher v. McMain

110 P.2d 765, 153 Kan. 401, 1941 Kan. LEXIS 146
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMarch 8, 1941
DocketNo. 35,086
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 110 P.2d 765 (Swisher v. McMain) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Swisher v. McMain, 110 P.2d 765, 153 Kan. 401, 1941 Kan. LEXIS 146 (kan 1941).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

DawsoN, C. J.:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court which sustained an order of the probate court admitting a will to probate over the objections of the heir at law.

The pertinent facts were these: The late Mrs. Olive B. Swisher, of Wichita, a widow whose sole heir was her only brother, William S. McMain, of North Kansas City, Mo., employed the law firm of Dempster 0. Potts and Dallas M. Potts, father and son, to draw her will, which is the subject of this lawsuit. Its principal terms read:

.“I, Olive B. Swisher, of Wichita, Sedgwick county, Kansas, being of lawful age and sound mind and memory, do hereby make, publish and declare this my last will and testament; hereby revoking any and all former wills, testaments and codicils that I may at any time have made.
• • • • • • • ... i.- 1.1
“Second
“I will, devise and bequeath to my brother Will McMains the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500).
“Third
“I will, devise and bequeath to my friend Dorothy Greenamyer the sum of five hundred dollars ($500).
“Fourth
“I will, devise and bequeath to my friend Mrs. G. G. Greenamyer the sum of five hundred dollars ($500), and all articles of household furniture, including linens, silverware and pictures.
“Fifth
“I will, devise and bequeath to my step-son Joel Swisher all of the remainder of my property, whether real, personal or mixed, of every kind and character whatsoever, and whatever [wherever] the same may be situated.
“Sixth
“I designate and appoint Dallas M. Potts, of Wichita, Kansas, as executor of this my last will and testament.”

Dated, signed and witnessed December 10,1937.

Mrs. Swisher left this will in the custody of the attorneys who drew it, and died in less than two months thereafter, on February 2, 1938.

Instead of offering for probate this will which was in his possession and without giving the probate court any intimation of its existence, on February 8, 1938, Dallas M. Potts filed for probate a purported [403]*403“joint last will and testament” of Charles R. Swisher and Olive B. Swisher, husband and wife, dated April 7, 1920, and signed by-Charles R. Swisher and Olive B. Swisher, and witnessed on April 9, 1920, by Dempster 0. Potts and another. By its terms, if Olive B. Swisher should survive her husband, his estate was devised to her without restrictions, but providing that—

“If there shall remain in her hands any of the estate coming to her under this will, including rents, profits and increase', we mutually will and bequeath the same to the said Joel Swisher, to have and hold the same to his exclusive use and benefit.”

Charles R. Swisher died on June 21,1926, but the foregoing will of 1920 was never offered for probate in the administration of his estate. It had been in the possession and control of Olive B. Swisher and her stepson for a number of years (for more than three years next prior to February 2, 1938).

On the petition of Dallas M. Potts, this instrument of 1920 was admitted to probate as the last will of Olive B. Swisher, and its proponent was appointed and qualified as administrator of her estate, with the purported will of 1920 annexed. This appellant William S'. McMain, brother and sole heir at law of Olive B. Swisher, was unaware of the existence of the will which his sister had made a few weeks before her death. Two of the beneficiaries of that will, however, Dorothy Greenamyer and Mrs. G. G. Green-amyer, had been informed by Mrs. Swisher herself that she had made her will and had bequests in it in their behalf. This feature of the case will be further developed later in this opinion.

The estate in controversy consisted of a house and parcel of ground in Toronto, Kan., valued at $1,000, and about $9,000 in government bonds, cash, and insurance policies. Dallas M. Potts gave a bond in the sum of $2,000 for his faithful administration of the estate. Shortly thereafter Mrs. Greenamyer inquired of him about the bequests Mrs. Swisher had made for her and her daughter. She testified by deposition that Potts told her that it (the will he had drawn in December, 1937) “wasn’t any good, it wouldn’t stand.” Mrs. Greenamyer asked to see that will, but he refused to show it to her. Her deposition continued:

“My husband came home one day and said that Dallas (Potts) told him if he would sign this [receipt] for a thousand dollars for services for taking care of her, that that wouldn’t — that we would get the money that was intended for us just the same whether it was in the will or not.
[404]*404“Q. And you got the $1,000 for it? A. Yes. That is the only reason we signed it — I will be frank. That is the only reason. I signed. Of course, he told me I wouldn’t get any money anyway unless I did take that.”

Dorothy Greenamyer testified that she went to Dallas Potts’ office with her mother (Mrs. G. G. Greenamyer) and asked to see the will of December, 1937, and that he refused to show it to her.

About the time Mrs. Greenamyer and her daughter were inquiring about the will of December, 1937, in which Mrs. Swisher had made bequests in their behalf and about which the testatrix had informed them, Mr. Greenamyer filed a demand against the estate of Mrs. Swisher for an “amount agreed upon and the wish of the deceased, . . . in payment of services rendered’ deceased by claimant, in nursing and general care during last illness of deceased, $1,000.” The date when this claim was presented is not shown, but it was verified on February 12, 1938, and endorsed thereon are the following :

“I consent that $1,000 be allowed on claim.
(Signed) Dallar M. Potts, Administrator.
“One thousand dollars allowed on this 17th day of March, 1938.
“Filed March 17, 1938. (Signed) Clyde M. Hudson, Probate Judge.”

This was followed on April 25, 1938, with a formal order of the probate court reciting that — “The court after investigating the records and being fully advised in the matter, finds that the demand of the said G. G. Greenamyer against said estate in the sum of one thousand dollars was heard and allowed on the 17th day of March, 1938,” and directing that the $1,000 be paid. Potts, the administrator, had already taken receipts from G. G. Greenamyer and his wife and daughter for the payment of this claim and for any and all other claims of the Greenamyer family against Mrs. Swisher’s estate. These read:

“Release
“For and in consideration of one thousand dollars, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, we, the undersigned, hereby release the estate of Olive B. Swisher from any and all claims that we may now have or may have had against said estate. (Signed) Mbs. G. G. Greenamyer,
(Signed) G. G. Greenamyer.”

[Dated and verified by both signatories April 6,1938.]

“Release

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 P.2d 765, 153 Kan. 401, 1941 Kan. LEXIS 146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swisher-v-mcmain-kan-1941.