Ahnert v. Ahnert
Ahnert v. Ahnert
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court w.as delivered by
This action was brought to contest a will purporting to have been made by William Ahnert, who died August 24, 1914. As the result of an early marriage, a daughter was born who is designated in the will as Mrs. Jake Lay. In 1876 he was married to Lena Ahnert, and from that marriage six children were born, named William," Albert, Bertha, Walter, Nellie and Louis. In 1903 he obtained a divorce from Lena, who was given the custody of the minor children, and the property rights of the parties were adjudged. He married Ernestine Uhleman on January 15, 1908, and from that marriage no children were born, but she had two daughters by a former marriage, one of whom became the wife of Albert Ahnert, the son of the testator, and her other daughter married Arnold C. Hitz. It appears that an antenuptial contract between him and Ernestine had been made under which each was to own and control and finally dispose of his or her own prop
The questions presented for decision on this appeal are: Did the testator have mental capacity to make a will? Was it in fact executed by him? and was he unduly influenced to execute the will so that it expressed the mind of another rather than his own ? These are questions of fact, and under the testimony in the case must be deemed to be settled by the findings and judgment of the trial court.
A question has been raised as to the capacity of the testator to make the will, principally because it was executed just a few minutes before he died. His last sickness was of but two or three days’ duration. The day prior to his death he sent for a neighbor, with whom he had done considerable business, to write his will, and upon the arrival of the scrivener the testator gave him a description of the property and the names of the persons to whom it was to be given, and appeared to have no difficulty in describing the property which he owned or in stating the names of his children as well as the persons to whom he desired to give his property. The scrivener made notes of his directions, and after each notation was made it was read to him and received his approval, and the notes so made were used in preparing the will. This was done on Sunday, and the testator as well as the scrivener had an opinion that a will could not be legally executed on Sunday. It was arranged then to prepare the will and have it executed after midnight, and the testator watched the clock and indicated considerable anxiety lest he should not live until Monday. After the will was written it was read to him in the presence of the witnesses, and he called their attention to the fact that they had overlooked the gift to the German church, which indicated that his memory was stronger than that of the scrivener. Just after midnight a table was brought to the bedside and the will, as prepared and read, was laid before him and he was then able to sit up without assistance, but when he undertook to sign his name he was very nervous and requested the scrivener to write
On the question of undue influence there is little room for the contention that the evidence is insufficient to support the finding of the court. It is argued that the fact that he devised the Gray county land to Hitz instead of his own sons Walter and Louis is a circumstance tending to show that he must have been under some undue constraint when the will was made. Testimony was offered to the effect that shortly after purchasing the land he expressed an intention to give it to these sons. He had stated to the sons and to others that his purpose was to place the sons on the land if they would furnish teams and implements, and ultimately to give it to them They did not furnish these farming facilities and they were not given the land or its possession. The change of mind may have been occasioned by his fear that, they would not have the means to improve and properly farm the land, or it may have been an apprehension that they would be unable to pay the mortgage lien that existed against the land, or it may have been because the boys had always made their home with their mother from whom the testator had been divorced and they had failed to visit at his home after his marriage to Ernestine. It is said to be an unnatural act to give the property to his wife’s son-in-law instead of his own sons, but the mere fact that a testator may make an unnatural disposition of his estate does not raise a presumption of fraud or undue influence. (Ginter v. Ginter, 79 Kan. 721, 101 Pac. 634; 40 Cyc. 1154.) It is not uncommon for testators to give to one child in preference to another or
It is said that his wife and those to whom his property was given were close to him during his illness while his own children were not brought in until shortly before his death. It is true that the beneficiaries of his will had an opportunity to exercise an influence over him. His wife especially had an opportunity as well as a motive to influence his mind as to the disposition to be made of his property, but, as said in Ginter v. Ginter, supra, “the authorities are unanimous that power, motive, and opportunity to exercise undue influence do not suffice to authorize the inference that such influence has in fact been wielded.” (p. 741.) It was also determined in that case that while unequal and unnatural provisions in a will may be considered in determining whether the will was the free act of the testator, they do not of themselves shift the burden of proof which rests upon those who assert that undue influence was exercised. While the wife on the day before his death twice mentioned the fact that a will had not been made by the testator, it is not shown that she took any part in the making of the will nor that she attempted to influence or control the disposition of the property. Objection was made to the exclusion of remarks made at one time by the testator to the effect that he wanted his boys to go out to Gray county and farm his land. It appears, however, that the testimony was subsequently received so far as it went to show his relations with his sons. The testimony had little to do with his state of mind when the will was made. Besides, there was considerable testimony of statements made by him, not only that he wanted the boys to go out and farm the land, but also of a purpose to give the land to them. Evidently there was a change of purpose in this respect as he made a different disposition of the land. A letter said to have been written by the testator to his brother about
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.