Levenseller v. Smith
Levenseller v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
This appeal involves a contest of the will of Mrs. Annie S. Evans, deceased. She died October 2, 1935, at the age of 77 years. The immediate cause of death was pneumonia, but she was then suffering from senile dementia. Her husband’s death occurred on December 18, 1934. The will in suit bears date January 29, 1935; and it was proposed for probate by Aubrey Levenseller, one of the beneficiaries. It was sustained after contest in the probate court and upon appeal to the circuit court with trial by jury it was again upheld. It is contested on the grounds that it was not legally executed and that the testatrix was unduly influenced and mentally incompetent. Contestants have appealed from the judgment in the circuit court sustaining the will and from the denial of their motion for a new trial.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans had been married about 20 years at the time of his death. He left his property to Mrs. Evans who at the time of her death was possessed of a substantial estate. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had no children, and so far as is disclosed by the record she left no near relatives surviving her. Contestants are first cousins living in the State of New York. But the record discloses that this relationship had resulted in no particular friendliness or intimacy between testatrix and these cousins. It is not shown when, if ever, they had visited each other. They did not visit at the Evans’ home during the final and somewhat prolonged illness of either Mr. Evans or Mrs. Evans nor were they pres
As noted above, the will was made by Mrs. Evans six weeks after the death of her husband. While the provisions of the will are somewhat numerous, each is of very simple character. It contains 11 separate bequests of sums of money ranging in amounts from $100 to $500 each. Two of these are to churches and the remaining nine are to designated individuals each of whom is referred to as “my friend.” By another bequest the testatrix gave all of her household furniture and her automobile to Conrad Turrell who is also one of the three residuary legatees named in the will. The other two residuary legatees are designated in the will as “my second cousin, Frank Levenseller” and “my second cousin, Auburn Levenseller.” Their relationship was in fact somewhat more distant than second cousins. Aubrey Levenseller at Mrs. Evans’ request had visited her home for some considerable time prior to the death of her husband, and remained two weeks or more after the death of Mr. Evans. During his visit he assisted in the care of Mr. Evans and in other ways aided Mrs. Evans and afforded her companionship. Mr. Turrell, like Mr. and Mrs. Evans, was a resident of the village of Romeo. They lived about two blocks from each other. For several years he had served as village clerk. He was a practical nurse and had assisted in the Evans ’ home during the last illness of Mr. Evans. Subsequent to the latter’s death Mr. Turrell kept in almost daily contact with Mrs. Evans and continued to render active friendly service without compensation. Mr. Homer L. Fitch, an attorney of upwards of 25 years’ practice and then serving as president of the village of Romeo, had at the request of Mrs. Evans been appointed as
Contestants rely very much upon their claim that prior to the execution of the will Mr. Turrell sustained a confidential relation to Mrs. Evans; and from this they urge that a presumption arises that the will wherein Mr. Turrell was a beneficiary was procured by undue influence. They assign error upon the trial court’s refusal so to hold and charge. In support of their contention that there was a confidential relation, appellants stress the fact that Mrs. Evans gave Mr. Turrell a power of attorney (not printed in the record) in consequence of which he seemingly was authorized to transact her general business affairs. This contention is not tenable because no such relationship existed either at or prior to the time the will was made. Instead, the power of attorney was not given to Mr. Turrell until three months after the will was executed. We find nothing in the testimony which indicates that the relationship between Mrs. Evans and Mr. Turrell at or prior to the time of the will was other than herein-before indicated. He was a kindly, well-disposed neighbor who had rendered, without compensation so far as the record discloses, to both Mr. and Mrs. Evans, services in consequence of which the latter
Very many of the other alleged errors stressed by appellants pertain to the court’s charge to the jury, it being urged that there was error in numerous portions of the charge as given and also that there was error in the court’s refusal to give requests preferred by appellants. Their complaint that the charge was unduly lengthy, that there was much repetition, and that certain portions of the charge related to questions not involved, or at best only remotely involved in this case, is not wholly without merit. However, a careful review of this record fails to disclose any error in the charge which would justify a holding that it was prejudicial to the extent of constituting reversible error.
Many of appellants’ complaints as to the charge of the court or the refusal of the court to charge relate to undue influence. None of these could have been seriously prejudicial to appellants for the following reason: At the conclusion of all the proof the proponent made a motion for a directed verdict both as to the issue of undue influence and of mental incapacity. In the motion proponent urged upon the
“The fact that opportunity was present for undue influence will not raise an inference of it. In re Allen’s Estate, 230 Mich. 584. See, also, In re Spinner’s Estate, 248 Mich. 263; In re Carlson’s Estate, 218 Mich. 262; In re Bulthuis’ Estate, 232 Mich. 129.”
Our review of this record satisfies us that at most the testimony indicates no more than that Mr. Turrell may have had an opportunity to exercise undue influence in the making of the will. He is the only person appellants claim exercised undue influence in procuring this will. While he was in Mrs. Evans’ home at the time she signed her will, he was not in her presence when she’ executed it. Whatever he did relative to securing the presence of her attorney and the witnesses for Mrs. Evans, was seemingly done at her request, although direct testimony as to all details was not produced. As we have repeatedly held in the cases above cited, 'proof of mere opportunity is not sufficient. Because of this condition of the record the trial court on proponent’s motion might well have entirely withdrawn from the consideration of the jury the contestants’ claim of undue influence. Under the circumstances appellants should not secure a reversal on the ground that the court declined to give certain of their requests pertaining to undue influence nor on the ground that there was error in the charge as given on this phase of the case. In any event we think nothing appears in the court’s charge relating to undue influence which constitutes prejudicial error.
We are not impressed with appellants’ contention that because Mr. Turrell (who was present through
In this case the actual question worthy of being litigated was whether testatrix at the time of making her will (January 29, 1935) had sufficient mentality to make this will. In the charge to the jury the circuit judge stated that the trial had been in progress “for several days.” A rather large volume of testimony was taken in behalf of the respective litigants. If that produced in behalf of proponent were ac
Another error relied upon by appellants is the ruling of the trial court sustaining proponent’s objection to the hypothetical question propounded by
Appellants complain because the circuit judge in his charge to the jury explained the law relative to insane delusions, and stated to the jury that the only insane delusion with which the testimony tended to show Mrs. Evans was afflicted, had nothing to do with the disposition of her property made by her will; and therefore the jury could not find the will invalid on the ground of an insane delusion. Appellants now say in their brief:
“We submit that there was no evidence in the cause nor attempt on the part of contestants to claim that the insane delusions of Mrs. Evans relative to her parents (entered) into the making of the will.”
This portion of the charge was not subject to the criticism that it was “argumentative.” And contestants cannot now complain that it was confusing in that it did not relate to an issue in the case. One of the grounds of appeal from the probate court is contestants’ claim that the will was invalid because of testatrix’s insane delusions; and contestants offered testimony tending to show that Mrs. Evans at times believed her parents, who had been dead for years, were in an upstairs room in her home. It developed that this delusion had no bearing whatever upon the testamentary disposition which Mrs. Evans made of her property. The trial court was fully justified in directing the jury’s attention to
Appellants’ contention that the verdict of the jury is contrary to the weight of the evidence is not sustained by this record. We find no merit in other alleged errors. The judgment entered in the circuit court is affirmed, with costs to appellee. The case is remanded for certification of the judgment to the probate court.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re EVANS' ESTATE. LEVENSELLER v. SMITH
- Status
- Published