Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-04-02
A To Making a viii
ot cavsa Give PsrsenaMhe Has -
Sound Mind isWhs May Make Oral Will
I.
(By Charles B. Kaufman Of the Davenport BARI

properly carry on his business, II he
is capable Of comprehending his prop
erty interests and determining the dis
position he desires to make Of his
property knowing that he IL making
such disposition then he has tesla
mentary capacity; that IL, he is con-
sidered to be Of sound mind and cap
able of making q will. On the other
hand it is not necessary to show In
sanity or imbecility to SGT aside the
will because it may be that he does not
understand the nature. eccentricity,
jealousy, prejudice, peculiarities OF life
and conduct mono-mania (where the
insanity IL confined to single OBJ
ject) may be shown to affect tesla
mentary capacity to make a will but in
themselves none Of these conclusively
show that the testator was OF unsound
mind. But senile dementia disease Of
the mental faculties whereby a per-
son IL reduced to second childhood)
does show lack Of testamentary ca
pacity because the person Is not OF
sound mind. No fixed rule can be laid
down as to what constitutes sound
mind and what does not. For instances,
it has often been stated that q person
under guardianship Is usually pre-
sumed to be Of unsound mind but no
may not be because guardian may be
appointed for spendthrift or an
habitual drunkard. Let us suppose
that man has spells Of insanity. II
he makes will as result Of his In
sane decisions it is clear that he was
not of sound mind because he did not
know what he was doing. But II he
made the will when he was not under
any of these spells and he fully knew
the objects Of his bounty and the ma
ture and effect Of his act then he is of
sound mind because he was in COM
plete control Of his mental and reason
ing faculties. Various matters may be
mentioned which affect testamentary
capacity and many facts combine to
show what does and what does not
, constitute sound mind. But We may
lay down as a general rule, that when
person can act with such an amount
| of reason, memory and judgment that
he understands the extent OF his prop
erty, knows the natural objects Of his
bounty and realizes the consequence
Of his act in disposing Of his property
then he is of sound mind. In short any
person of sound mind may make a
| valid will If of age and in this connec-
ton 1t is well to remember that a
| woman acquires her age at Is and
I minors acquire their majority by mar
riage.
Kinds Of Wills.
There are two kinds Of wills, verbal
and written. Verbal wills are only al
lowed as to personality. All persons
are allowed to dispose Of personally
to the extent of $500 and soldiers and
mariners may dispose Of all their pep
sonal property verbally. The code pro-
vides personal property to the value
Of 5000 may be bequeathed by verbal
will, witnessed by two competent per-
sons, but IL such bequest is Of greater
value it shall be valid only to that ex-
! tent" Therefore, where the decedent
In making an oral will attempted to
dispose of all his real and personal
property IT was held that only $500 Of
the personally was disposed Of by will.
AS to soldiers and mariners the code
provides, "A soldier in actual service.
CT mariner at sea, may dispose OF all
his personal estate by will so made
and witnessed; that is by verbal Will
witnessed by two competent persons.
All other wills must be In writing.
Copyright Charles B. Kaufman.