Glebus's Estate
Glebus's Estate
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
On March 21, 1917, Joseph Glebus executed, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, a will drawn for him by his attorney. His estate consisted of about $6,000 in personalty, and, after providing for his funeral expenses and burial and making a bequest to a friend, he divided the balance of his estate equally among fourteen named legatees. Early on the morning of the next day —March 22d — the testator expressed a wish to change his will by giving his entire estate to his two children, from whose mother he had been divorced, and he directed that someone be sent for to draw a new will. He persisted, during March 22d, and up to eleven o’clock the next day, in his desire to dispose of his estate by another written will, but unsuccessful efforts were made to secure a scrivener, and, on March 23d, shortly before noon, he lapsed into unconsciousness, dying several hours later. A caveat was filed against the probate of the will executed March 21st, but the register allowed it to be proved and issued letters testamentary to the executor appointed by the testator. From this action an appeal was taken to the orphans’ court. Subsequently, what was alleged to be a nuncupative Avill of the decedent, made March 22, 1917, was offered for probate, but the register refused to receive it. From this an appeal was also taken to the court below, which held that the writ
But even if the decedent had actually made a nuncupative will, what effect would it have had on the written one? The answer to this is found in the Act of April 8, 1833, P. L. 249, which was in force at the time of the decedent’s death. Section 14 of that act provides:
Appeal dismissed at appellant’s costs.
Reference
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- Wills — Revocation—Nuncupative will — Act of April 8, 1888, P, L. 2b9. 1. Declarations by a party on his deathbed as to disposition of his property, with directions to secure a scrivener, cannot operate as a nuncupative will; the desire indicated was rather the disposition of his property by a written instrument. 2. A will drawn by testator’s attorney and duly executed in the presence of two witnesses, will not be revoked by the expressed desire of the testator, where it appears that the testator stated his desire to change his will so as to give his estate to his two children by his divorced wife; that he directed that some one be sent for to draw a new will; that he persisted for twenty-four hours thereafter in such desire until he became unconscious and shortly afterwards died; that diligent efforts were made by his divorced wife to secure a scrivener; that testator asked her and a friend of such wife to be “dependable witnesses”; and that five days elapsed, after testator’s death, before an alleged nuncupative will, of which the divorced wife was one of the witnesses, was reduced to writing. 3. Such a writing, even if it were a nuncupative will, could not be held to revoke the previous will, in view of the Act of April 8, 1833, P. L. 249, which expressly provides that a prior will can be revoked by a nuncupative will only when the latter is “committed to writing in the lifetime of the testator, and after the writing thereof [is] read to or by him, and allowed by him, and proved to be so done by two or more witnesses.”