Moore v. Moore
Moore v. Moore
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
Tlie first we shall notice is the claim that the court erred in sustaining an objection to a question put to the witness Moore, as to whether she would be willing to enter into a contract with the decedent. She answered, “Well, I don’t know.” No motion was made to strike out the answer. The court expressed the opinion that the question was objectionable, and said, “I will sustain the objection.” But tlie answer was permitted to remain. Anyhow the question was improper. It was put on the theory, the appellant says, that he wanted to test the witness’s opinion; she having said in answer to a question by the court, that in her opinion the decedent was of sound mind at the time she executed the will in question. In other words he desired to cross-examine liis own witness, for he had called her. This was not proper, and the court was right in its action, even though we assume that the answer was stricken out. (Turner v. American Secur. & T. Co. 29 D. C. 460.) Besides, the fact that a person might be unwilling to enter into a contract with another does not tend in any way to prove that the latter is of unsound mind. There may be, as the court below observed, many reasons besides that of mental incapacity for doing so. This also disposes of the objection to tlie ruling of the court in striking out the answer of the witness Donokoe that he “would not want to make a contract with her,” the decedent. Moreover his answer was not responsive to the question propounded, and should have gone out for that reason as well.
Complaint is made because the court refused to receive the testimony of the witness liidgeway, given by deposition, that John A. Moore, one of the devisees, had said after the death of decedent that tlie will in question “was easily broken.” It does not appear upon what ho based this opinion. The jury was not charged with tlie duty of finding whether tlie will was valid or invalid. Its authority vras limited to answering certain specific questions among which the validity of the will was not one; that was a matter for the court, not for the jury. There' fore, if for no other reason, the opinion of Moore could not have aided the jury and hence vTas properly excluded.
Was there any evidence tending to show that the decedent was not of sound mind on the Ith of July, 1915, the date on which she made the purported will? She was sick in April, May, and June. A trained nurse was procured for her a short time before the will was made, and a physician attended her for about three months. Sometimes he would come more than once a day. During a whole summer “she was bad off,” according to one witness. On the day the will was signed a sister of the decedent called but did not sec her. Just why is not disclosed. The decedent was friendly with all her relations. She told her sister Mrs. Ridgeway, more than once in June or July of 1915, that she was not going to make a will. Some three weeks‘after the will -was made she said to her sister Mrs. Larrick, that she had made her will. In April, 1916, about nine months after this, she asked the same sister to call upon their brother, the- appellee, and reqoest him to show her decedent’s will. Elizabeth A. Moore, another sister, but not one of the beneficiaries, who had lived with the decedent for fourteen years, inclusive of the time the will was made and afterwards, testified that in October, 1915, three months after the will was made, decedent was able to get up and down stairs unattended, and further said, in answer to a question of the court, that in her judgment decedent was of sound mind at the time the will was made. This is substantially all of the testimony on the subject of mental incapacity. It does not disclose anything by which the jury would have been warranted in finding that the .decedent lacked mental capacity to make, a will.
Appellant says that, so far as the testimony discloses, the testatrix knew nothing of the contents of the will. What we have already shown makes clear that wo cannot assent to this.
Upon all questions presented by the record, the judgment of the lower court is correct, and is affirmed. A ¡firmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MOORE v. MOORE
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Appeal and Ebbor; Wills; Evidence; Testamentary Capacity; Undue Influence; Direction of Verdict. 1. An assignment of error will not be sustained When based upon a. ruling of the trial court in a will contest sustaining an objection hy tbo eaveatee to a question propounded a witness by the caveator as to whether the witness would have been willing to cuter a contract with the decedent, especially where the record shows the witness answered, “Well, I don't know,” and there was no motion to strike out the answer, and the witness had previously stated that, in his opinion, the decedent was of sound mind. (Eollowing Turner v. American 8ecu,r. 2. In a will contest, the trial court properly strikes out the answer of a witness that he '‘would not want to make a contract with her,” the decedent, especially where the answer is not responsive to the question propounded. 3. Tn a will contest where the jury is required to answer specific questions submitted to them, among which is none relating- to the validity or invalidity of the will, it is not error for the trial court to refuse to receive the testimony of a witness for the caveator to the effect that one of the beneficiaries had said after the death of the decedent that the will in question “was easily broken.” 4. Where the witnesses of an instrument propounded as a will testify that the decedent signed it in their presence, and they, at her request, signed it as witnesses in her presence and in the presence of each oilier, the proof of its execution and attestation is sufficient. 5. In a -nil! contest involving the question of the testamentary capacity of the decedent, the trial court properly directs a verdict lor the eaveatee on ihat issue, where the testimony in effect is that the decedent was ill for three months before she executed in July the instrument propounded as her will, attended all of the time hy a physician, who sometimes would come more than once a day, and the latter part of tlic lime hy a trained uurse; that during- the whole summer “she was had off;” that on the day the will was executed a sister called lmt did not see her; that the decedent was friendly with all her relations; thai she told one sister in June or July she was not going to make a will, and another, after she had executed the instrument, that she had made her will; that nine months after its ex'ecution she asked one of her sisters to call upon their brother, the eaveatee, to show her the will; ihat another sister, but not a beneficiary, who had lived -with te decedent fourteen years inclusive of the. time the will was made and afterwards, testified that nine months after it was made the decedent was able to get up and down stairs unattended, and, in her opinion, the decedent was of sound mind when the will was made. 6. The question of the exercise of undue influence upon the decedent hy a brother and a sister is properly withdrawn by the trial court from the jury in a will contest, where the evidence on that subject, in effect is, ihat seven days after the paper was executed the decedent delivered her check for several thousand dollars to her brother as her attorney; that ho had been attending to her business for many years; that the decedent had stated she had loaned money to her brother, and that he would pay it back out of the rent; that he was seen handing her a check to sign and receiving checks from her; that he frequently visited the office of the attorney who drew the will; that the attorney and another whom he had asked to witness the will had stopped at the office of the brother on their way to have the will executed; and that one of decedent’s sisters who was present when the will was executed, but who was not a beneficiary, failed to testify that any undue influence was exercised upon the decedent.