Case Name: Matter of the Probate of the Alleged Will of John Connor, Deceased
Court: New York Surrogate's Court
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1899-10
Citations: 29 Misc. 391
Docket Number: 
Parties: Matter of the Probate of the Alleged Will of John Connor, Deceased.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Miscellaneous Reports
Volume: 29
Pages: 391–393

Head Matter:
Matter of the Probate of the Alleged Will of John Connor, Deceased.
(Surrogate’s Court, New York County,
October, 1899.)
1. Will — Expert testimony as to capacity not controlling.
The opinions o£ attesting witnesses to a will, and those of laymen, that a testator had testamentary capacity, should prevail over that of a medical expert, and particularly where the hypothetical question addressed to him did not state the facts as they had been proved.
2. Same — Natural objects of bounty.
A bequest of all a testator’s property to his two poor maiden sisters, with whom he had long resided, to the exclusion of a brother able to support himself and a sister of the half blood, is not unreasonable nor unnatural.
Proceedings upon probate of a -will. Decedent died possessed of one small house and lot valued at $6,000 and $1,400 cash in banks which he gave to two of his sisters. His brother and another contested the will on the ground of want of mental capacity.
David A. Sullivan, for proponent.
George H. Hart, for contestants.

Opinion:
Vaeitom, S.
The decedent, John Connor, was about sixty-five ye< rs old when he died, on June 3, 1899, and left him surviving as-his only heirs at law and next of kin a brother, Patrick Connor, of nearly the same age, two maiden sisters of middle age, Kate and Mary Connor, and a half-sister, Julia Flanagan. He left personal property estimated at about $1,400, consisting chiefly of money in. banks and certain real estate, in which there appears to be an. equity of something like six or seven thousand dollars. The maiden sisters above named, both poor, and one of them at least, working as a seamstress, had lived with the decedent and kept house for him up to and for a considerable time before his death. A paper is now offered for probate as his last will and testament, dated March 9, 1899, by which he gives all his money in certain specified banks and his interest in the real estate above mentioned to Ids sisters, Kate and Mary, above referred to, and by which he appoints one of them as executrix. The alleged will is contested by his brother, Patrick Connor, and his half-sister, Julia Flanagan, on all the usual grounds. It is unnecessary to refer to the testimony in extenso. I find that the will was properly executed in' accordance with law, and that no undue influence was exerted upon the testator to secure its execution. See Matter of Lowman's Estate, 1 Misc. Rep. 43. I am also most decidedly of opinion that the testator was in such a condition of mind and body as to be perfectly capable at law of making the will in question. The only testimony to the contrary worthy of any consideration came from an expert medical witness, who, in answer to a hypothetical question propounded by contestants' counsel as to certain conditions, stated that, in his opinion, a man under those conditions and suffering from Bright's disease of the kidneys would not have been mentally competent to make a will. The hypothetical question to which the answer was given, did not, in my opinion, state the facts of the case as they had been proved. See Dickie v. Van Vleck, 5 Redf. 284, 293. The testimony, in my judgment, does not show that the testator suffered from that especial type of Bright's disease which necessarily renders a person mentally incompetent. Moreover, the testimony other than expert, as to the testator's testa mentary capacity at the time the will was made, and especially that of the subscribing witnesses, should prevail over the opinion of an expert. In re Lyddy's Will, 4 N. Y. Supp. 468; Matter of Kiedaisch, 13 id. 255, 260; Matter of Will of Johnson, 7 Misc. Rep. 220; 27 N. Y. Supp. 649. As to the fairness and reasonableness of the will, it does not, in my judgment, seem unnatural that the testator should have preferred to leave the little property that he had to dispose of to the two middle-aged maiden sisters with whom, he lived, who had ministered to his wants in the last years of his life, and who were poor hardworking women, rather than to a brother, who, judging from his appearance upon the stand, is quite vigorous and strong, despite his age, and should be capable of earning his own livelihood. Nor is it strange, under all the circumstances, that he should have preferred his sisters of the full blood, with whom he lived, to his half-sister, the contestant. Objections overruled and will admitted to probate.
Probate decreed.