Reference

Cited By

5 cases

Status

Published

Syllabus

Wills—Probate—Issue devisavit vel non—Testamentary capacity—Delusions. A delusion in the legal acceptation of that term, is a belief that something exists which does not exist, and which no rational person in the absence of evidence would have believed to exist. A delusion absolutely unfounded on the part of testatrix that her sons had defrauded herds not such a delusion as will justify the court in setting aside a will which passed over the sons. The fact that testatrix was laboring under a delusion at the time she executed her will, will not alone entitle the contestant to an issue; the burden will still rest upon him to show that the will in question was the result of the delusion. Where the evidence shows that testatrix believed without foundation that her sons whom she had excluded from her will had defrauded her in the settlement of their father’s estate, the will will not be set aside, even if it should be assumed that such belief were a delusion, where there is evidence that the testatrix before her death sought a reconciliation with her sons, that they had neglected her, and that she had bitterly complained of this neglect.