The times., 1898-08-15
THE BREAKING OF WILLS
Ii Is Not Such an Easy Thing
10 DO, After ALI.
CURIOUS FORMS CT WILLS
Professor Reeves on tl.e Most FIRE.
~ent Causes of Litigation Over
Tcstantcnts-The Four Grounds on
Which Wills Can He Attacked.
Notable Contests

9ro1- Ai1red ". reeves, lecturer on
wills and real estate in New York
Law School, according TO the New York
Sun, says, among other things il a
talk about wills: at is safe to say that
nine-tenths of the litigation over wills
| mas something to do with ,one of the
two laws which We have bean discussing.
either that relating to charities or the
other to perpetuity. Mr. Tiiden's will
was within the rule against p-rpetu.ty; p
that is. Ii complied with il in one sense,
but it violated the requirement that a
1T for charitable purpo es should not
be too indefinite. Mr.. Tilden gave 3d.,
100000 to his executors to hold in trust
during the lives of his nephew and niece.
and within these lives they were to have
formed the corporation to be own as
the Tilden Trust to own and mlnase a
free library in the city of New York and
were TO give the three millions to that
corporation. Had Mr.. Tilden stopped
there his will would have s.ocd. but he
added that if in their discreet on his exc
Cutors thought best TO devote some of
the money or all of il to 9th er char.tl
they might give some or all of it to such
charities as in their judgment should be
most widely beneficial TO mankind. Here
/ he violated the then existing New York
rule which forbade gifts to indefinite
charity in that way. After his will was
! overthrown that rule was changed by
statute and gifts may now be made for
! charitable purposes in New York. though
! the charities named are indefinite
There are practically four chef
! grounds on which wills can be attacked.
/ one is that the testetor hasn't the ca
| pacity TO make a viii. Another is that
/ undue influence has been brought 10 bear
/ on him so that the viii is not his own,
50 that II he should speak he would say:
/ This VIII is not my Will The third is
! that the testator attempts TO do what
the law VIII not permit. The fourth
ground we have not discussed and t.at
Is the failure of the testator to execute
/ his viii.
/ ..Dinerent States and countries have
] different requirements as To how wills
! shall be executed. some being more strin-
gent than others. The requirements In
/ New York. TO pass both real and person
| al property are. first. that the tesla Tor
| shall subscribe the will at the end. Make
/ that point emphatic. II there is one word
or one syllable below the name the will
| cannot stand The name must literally
| be at the end Second. ne must either
/ SuDStElDt Ills ild4Lit IA AGlt LANSN4A-N "a
! the witnesses, or. having the name writ
I ten and visible he must acknowledge to
| the witnesses that he subscribed it
| Third he must declare to the witnesses
| that il is his last Will and testament
| This is called the publication of the will.
! Fourth, there must be at least two wit
nesses who must subscribe their names
to the will as such at the request of the
testator II is not required in New
Z hot fba with shall ha
in the Iestator's presence or that they
shall be in the presence of each other,
or that they shall sign their names in
his presence. but il is best that all these
things should be done, and better 10 have
three witnesses rather than two. 1t is
also we'll to put a seal opposite the tes-
| tator's name. In New York the witness
es are required by the statute to state
their places Of residence. Their failure
to do this does not invalidate the will.
however. but subjects the witnesses 10
a fire of $50 each.
While this outline covers the New
York requirement, other formalities are
prescribed in o-her States and countries.
and since a will cannot dispose of real
property unless it is executed in the
manner required by the law of the place
where such real property is situated. i,
is advisable, in having will executed
10 have formalities enough TO cover the
requirements in all places. In order to
! do this, after having the will written
preferably in manuscript, have the tes-
+. tator and three witnesses present, ard
have them all remain until the execu-
ton is completed. The testator then sub
scribes his name at the end of the win
while the Witnesses see him do so. He
puts his seal to the right of his sigma
ture acknowledges to all of the witness
es that it is his signature, declares the
document to be his last will and testa-
ment, and requests each of the witnesses
to sign as subscribing witness. Then
each witness signs his name little be-
low that Of the testator and off to the
left. An attestation clause is next ad-
ed, which is in substance an outline OF
the execution of the will and then be-
| low this attes.ation clause each of the
witnesses signs his name again. and
states his place of residence"
Are there not many different kinds of
wills?" asked the interviewer
Yes answered Prof. Reeves, "and
some are queer enough. The ordinary will
Is a written will simply made by the one
testator. Indeed, to pass real property a
will must be written. The only general
cases in which oral or nuncupative wills
are allowed to dispose of personal prop
erty are those of soldiers in actual mill
tary service and sailors at sea; and al
sea means where the tide Gibbs and flows
There is j mutual will in which two tes-
tators by one document reciprocally will
| their property to each other, and the
| document becomes the will of the one
who first dies A joint will is where two
/ or more testators in one and the same
document give their property to some one
or more outside persons. AS each tesla
tor dies this is by most courts recognized
as his will and is probated as SUCH II
must be remembered that wills and con-
tracts are very different. While a will is
a legal instrument, unlike contract ii
/ can be revoked, stopped, cut off, changed
at any time. Reciprocal wills are some
times spoken Of they are the two dis
tinct wills of two persons by which each
wills his property to the other. Condi-
tional wills are drawn that they shall
not operate unless certain events do OF
| do not happen. Another kind of will is
one that newspaper reporters often get
lamentably mixed up on, and that is a
| Photographic or Geographic will. Properly
this is a form of will such as is permit
ted in some of the States especially those
of the South and Southwest. The holo-
graphic will is written entirely in the
handwriting of the testator, and thus
carrying on its face evidence of its genu.
ineness, does not require witnesses. The
mistake that newspapers make is in des
cribing a will as Photographic because il
| is in the testator's handwriting. The le.
gal meaning is not so: to be a holograph.
ic will there must be no witnesses The
average reporter writes: Mr.. A filed
Photographic will with the surrogate That
couldn't be done, for witnesses are neces