Meyer Will
Meyer Will
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
Decree affirmed. Appellants to pay costs.
Concurring Opinion
Concurring Opinion by
The sole issue presented in this appeal is whether a holographic writing which is internally consistent and coherent is sufficient to satisfy §2 of the Wills Act of 1947, P. L. 89, 20 P.S. §180.2. Appellants contend that this three page document the last page of which contains an inventory of decedent’s assets is not sufficient because this last page, the page containing decedent’s signature, lacks any dispositive provisions. Section 2, however, requires only that the purported will be signed “at the end thereof.” To accept appellants’ contention this Court would be forced to add to §2 a requirement that the will be signed at the end of the dispositive provisions.
I believe that the unanimous opinion of the Orphans’ Court of Philadelphia County adequately disposed of this contention. Meyer Estate, 42 Pa. D. & C. 2d 295, 304, 17 Fiduc. Reptr. 454, 464-65 (O.C. Phila. Cty. 1967) : “The different pages of a will, if not physically united, must be connected by their internal sense, by coherence or adaptation of parts, and as added by Justice (later Chief Justice) Stern, in his concurring opinion in Covington Estate, supra [348 Pa. 1, 20-21]: “The separate pages of the will are “connected by their internal sense and by coherence or adaptation of parts” within the meaning of the rule if they do not contain any mutual inconsistencies or con
“We disagree with and dismiss the argument of the exceptants that because the disputed page does not contain any dispositive or administrative provisions and does not even contain any inchoate testamentary expressions it cannot be admitted to probate. We would be required, if we followed this argument, to isolate the disputed page from the other writings which accompanied it. While it is completely possible or probable that if the disputed page were the only one offered for probate, it might well have been rejected, the disputed page must under the circumstances be associated with the other writings in the ascertainment of whether they all comply with the above enunciated rules.”
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion by
Since the majority has decided to dispose of this case in a per curiam opinion, in order to put this dissent in a proper perspective, it is necessary at the outset to detail the factual background giving rise to the matter in dispute.
On November 8, 1964, Charles J. Meyer, Jr., died unmarried and without issue. His only heirs surviving him are his nephews, Charles F. Meyer and John W. Meyer, appellants. On the day following decedent’s death, three friends of decedent went to his home to get clothes for his funeral and if possible to see if there was a will. In their search they found some keys, one of which was used to open a tool chest located at the end of decedent’s bed. Four papers all folded transversely were discovered on the top tray of the tool chest. All the papers found were undisputedly in the handwriting of decedent. Three of the papers
The first sheet of paper contains burial instructions, a clause for payment of debts and funeral expenses and six numbered, paragraphs containing various specific bequests. At the end of that paper decedent’s signature appears. The next paper which was not physically attached to the first consists of numbered paragraphs seven to twelve, two of which provide for specific bequests to two churches, one is the residuary clause, one names the executors, one gives the location of decedent’s safe deposit box, and the last paragraph provides seven specific bequests to seven friends of the decedent. Decedent’s signature does not appear at the end of that paper. The third paper, which was also not attached physically to any of the other papers is entitled “Estate Inventory of Charles J. Meyer, Jr. Feb. 28, 1963” (the same date as found on the top of the first paper). This paper contains a list of the assets of the decedent as of that date and bears decedent’s signature at the bottom of the page.
After hearing, the register of wills admitted these three papers for probate. An appeal therefrom was taken to the Orphans’ Court of Philadelphia County and, after a hearing, the court upheld the probate of the three papers. Exceptions were filed which were dismissed and a final decree entered. From that decree the instant appeal was taken.
The crux of this case involves a very narrow issue: Is the requirement of §2 of the Wills Act of 1947, 20 P.S. §180.2, that uEvery will, . . . shall be in writing and shall be signed by the testator at the end thereof” fulfilled, as a matter of law, by the unattached three papers, the third of which is signed by decedent at the bottom of the page?
There is no question that a valid will may be written on separate, and physically unattached sheets of
In my view the third paper listing decedent’s assets fails to meet the required test, i.e., it is not connected by internal sense, by coherence or adaptation of the various parts; nor does decedent’s signature appear at the logical end of his testamentary disposition. The third paper in no way disposes of any assets; does not contain any administrative provisions and is completely unnecessary to the disposition of decedent’s estate. Merely listing one’s estate inventory on a separate sheet of paper does not render such paper an integral part of the testamentary instrument, since it has nothing whatsoever to do with decedent’s testamentary desires. Consequently, I would conclude that the spatial and logical end of decedent’s will was at the end of
I dissent.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.