Yates v. Jeans

345 S.W.2d 657, 1961 Mo. App. LEXIS 628
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 10, 1961
DocketNo. 7915
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 345 S.W.2d 657 (Yates v. Jeans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yates v. Jeans, 345 S.W.2d 657, 1961 Mo. App. LEXIS 628 (Mo. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

McDowell, judge.

This is an action by appellants, Benita L. Yates, John E. Jones, Mrs. Chester H. Crain and Willard J. Walker, nieces and nephews of Clara Hood, deceased, to contest her will dated November 15, 1952. The cause was tried before the court in Division I of Jasper County, Missouri, and, at the end of all of the evidence, judgment was entered establishing the instrument in writing dated November 15, 1952, as the last will and testament of the deceased.

The sole contention raised in appellants’ brief is that the will dated November 15, 1952, had been revoked by a subsequent will executed by the deceased, which subsequent will has been destroyed.

Clara Hood died February 12, 1958. Her will dated November 15, 1952, was admitted to probate by the probate court of Jasper County, and respondent, James W. Jeans, was appointed executor, as provided by this will.

The will, after providing for the payment of all just debts and funeral expenses, devised and bequeathed to James W. Jeans and Hazel Jeans the residue and remainder of the estate of deceased, both real and personal, and requested the appointment of James W. Jeans as executor and asked he be permitted to act without bond.

The will was signed by testatrix, contained an attestation clause and was witnessed by Dalton DeShazer, Lois Shoemaker, and Paul L. Long.

The trial court, in a memorandum opinion, stated that plaintiffs allege that the deceased executed a new will in 1954 and that by reason of the new will, the 1952 will was revoked. That this is the only question involved in the case. He made this statement:

“There was testimony in the case to the effect that in 1954 Mr. Roy Coyne prepared a new will for the deceased and that it was properly executed and witnessed in his office. No copy of the 1954 will was introduced in evidence and there was no testimony of any kind concerning the contents of the 1954 will or whether or not that will had a clause revoking the prior will. Under such circumstances the mere fact that a new will was drawn in 1954 without proof of a revocation clause or of contents of the will which would be in conflict with the provisions of the will of 1952 there is not sufficient evidence to justify the Court in finding that the 1954 will revoked the 1952 will.

[659]*659“The law seems to be well settled that a subsequent will does not revoke a prior will unless there is a revocation clause in the subsequent will or unless the terms of the subsequent will makes such a disposition of the property of the testatrix that that the two wills are inconsistent and the first must be considered revoked by reason of the inconsistent provisions.”

On the issue of whether the will dated November 15, 1952, was revoked by a subsequent will, the evidence is as follows: Roy Coyne testified in behalf of plaintiffs that he is an attorney licensed to practice law in Joplin and has been for some years. He testified:

“Q. Now, Mr. Coyne, did you, during her lifetime, know Clara Hood? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Did you at any time during her lifetime, as an attorney, draw a will up for her? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Do you know when that was? A. It was sometime after May the first, 1954. It was after we moved to the new offices across the alley here, and it was after May 1954, the exact date of which I am unable to tell you.
“Q. Now, did you in your office, prepare this will for her? A. I did.
“Q. Was this will executed in your office? A. It was.
“Q. Did you see her sign this will that you prepared ? A. I did.
“Q. And did you and anyone else or, if not you, who acted as witnesses for the will? A. Mary Hindman, my stenographer and myself acted as witnesses.
“Q. And after this will was executed in your office, did Clara Hood take it with her? A. Yes, sir, she put it in her pocket book and took it away with her.
“Q. Now, did you and Miss Hind-man and Mrs. Hood all place your signatures on this document in the presence of each other? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And did you and Miss Hind-man sign the will at the request of Clara Hood as attesting witnesses? A. We did.
“Q. And did she at that time, tell you that that was her will? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Do you know who was the beneficiary of that will? A. Well, it’s been a long time and as my recollection goes now, a Mr. Kenrick or Kendall brought Mrs. Hood up to my office. I saw him here in the courtroom this morning and it’s my recollection now that the will was made to him and his wife.”

On cross examination witness testified that the will was a very short one and it was his recollection that after making the Kendalls beneficiaries, he was also made executor of the will. He stated that was all he .remembered about the will except it was executed in his office.

Mary Hindman, legal secretary for Mr. Coyne, testified that Coyne moved his office to its present location in 1954; that she signed the will of deceased, Clara Hood, as a witness and that deceased took it with her when she left the office.

There was evidence offered that the deceased delivered the will in an envelope to another for safe keeping and that, later, she got the will back and took it to her home. It was not found in deceased’s papers after her death.

In the trial of the case it was stipulated between the parties that the only issue involved was whether or not Mrs. Clara Hood, subsequent to November 15, 1952, made another will.

Appellants assign but one error on the part of the trial court, to-wit: the finding that the instrument in writing, dated November 15, 1952, which was admitted to [660]*660probate by the probate court, was the last will and testament of Clara Hood.

To support this alleged error appellants rely on sections 468.240 and 468.280 RSMo 1949; Beaumont v. Keim, 50 Mo. 28, and Rice v. Rice, 239 Mo.App. 739, 197 S.W.2d 994.

§ 468.240 RSMo 1949 [474.400 RSMo 1959] V.A.M.S., reads: “No will in writing, except in the cases herein mentioned, nor any part thereof, shall be revoked, except by a subsequent will in writing, or by burning, canceling, tearing or obliterating the same, by the testator, or in his presence, and by his consent and direction.”

§ 468.280 RSMo 1949 [474.410 RSMo 1959] V.A.M.S., reads: “If, after making any will, the testator duly makes a second will, the destruction, canceling or revocation of the second will does not revive the first will, unless it appears, by the terms of such revocation, that it was his intention to revive and give effect to the first will, or unless he duly republishes his first will.”

Under the record presented in the instant case there is no issue raised under the law as set out in § 468.280. The sole issue is whether or not the will of Clara Hood, dated November 15, 1952, admitted to probate in Jasper County, was revoked by a subsequent will made in 1954, which has been lost or destroyed. Appellants here are not seeking to establish the second will. They are merely contesting the one that was probated, alleging that it was revoked by the second will.

Beaumont v.

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Bluebook (online)
345 S.W.2d 657, 1961 Mo. App. LEXIS 628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yates-v-jeans-moctapp-1961.