Case Name: Mrs. Joann HENDRY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SUCCESSION OF Marguerite Ryan HELMS, Defendant-Appellee
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1990-02-07
Citations: 557 So. 2d 427
Docket Number: No. 88-996
Parties: Mrs. Joann HENDRY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SUCCESSION OF Marguerite Ryan HELMS, Defendant-Appellee.
Judges: Before GUIDRY, STOKER and YELYERTON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 557
Pages: 427–439

Head Matter:
Mrs. Joann HENDRY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SUCCESSION OF Marguerite Ryan HELMS, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 88-996.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.
Feb. 7, 1990.
Writ Denied April 6,1990.
Charles Schrumpf, Sulphur, for plaintiff-appellant.
David Dwight, Michael D. Carlton, Stock-well, Sievert, Yiccellio, Clements & Shad-dock, Charles D. Yiccellio, Lake Charles, for defendant-appellee.
Before GUIDRY, STOKER and YELYERTON, JJ.

Opinion:
GUIDRY, Judge.
Ms. Marguerite Ryan Helms executed a statutory will on July 1, 1985. On April 20, 1988, Ms. Helms met with her attorney, Charles Viccellio, and delivered to him a six page handwritten document (hereafter the document) which was written, dated and signed by her on April 13, 1988, which document we annex as appendix I. Ms. Helms died April 21, 1988 and thereafter, the July 1985 statutory will was probated.
Plaintiff-appellant, Joann Hendry, the only surviving relative of Ms. Helms, instituted this suit seeking to have the probate of the July 1985 will set aside and to have the document declared a valid olographic testament. The trial court dismissed plaintiffs petition concluding that, although written dated and signed by the decedent, the document did not, within its four corners, evidence testamentary intent on the part of the preparer. In making this determination, the trial judge, in oral reasons for judgment, stated:
"... [I]t is not clear to the Court that this is a document which was intended to be the last will and testament of the decedent. That is seen in the document itself when it appears that this document contains information which is intended to be furnished to someone else. There's all kinds of things in here, like how the telephone bill is paid, how the gas bill is paid, and where some insurance policies are, and where a gravesite is located and that its prepaid, and various other things, which is not usually found in wills or testaments. The Court concludes that this is merely a list, something that was being furnished to her attorney as information ."
Plaintiff appealed.
Charles Viccellio, Ms. Helms' attorney, was the only witness to testify. Mr. Viccel-lio, as Notary Public, prepared the 1985 statutory will and officiated at its execution. He testified that on April 20, 1988, which was one week after preparation of the document, Ms. Helms appeared at his office to deliver the document and discuss with him the preparation of another statutory will. She was to return the following week to execute the new statutory will which Mr. Viccellio was to draft, pursuant to their discussion and the document which she left with Viccellio. Ms. Helms died the following day.
In brief to this court, appellant, in effect, concedes that the document was not intended by the decedent to be her last will but urges that since it is in valid form and expresses decedent's last wishes, it is entitled to probate. In argument, appellant states:
"There is no question that her last intentions were as found on the olographic will. There is probably not much question either that she wanted Mr. Viccellio to transform her wishes from that will to a statutory testament. She apparently died before that could be done. Are her last wishes to be frustrated because of the fact that she died before her lawyer could complete the simple task of typing up her demands into a statutory form? . Thus the trial court erred in finding that this particular paper had to be the paper intended by Mrs. Helms to be her last will."
We discern no error in the trial court's conclusion that the document dated April 13, 1988 is not the olographic last will and testament of Ms. Marguerite Ryan Helms.
A testament is defined by our law as an act of last will clothed with certain solemnities, by which the testator disposes of his property, either universally or by universal title, or by particular title. La.C.C. art. 1571. La.C.C. art. 1570 provides for the form of donations mortis causa as follows:
"No disposition mortis causa shall henceforth be made otherwise than by last will or testament. Every other form is abrogated.
But the name given to the act of last will is of no importance, and dispositions may be made by testament under this title or under that of institution of heir, of legacy, codicil, donation mortis causa, or under any other name indicating the last will, provided that the act be clothed with the forms required for the validity of a testament, and the clauses it contains, or the manner in which it is made, clearly establish that it is a disposition of last will.
Thus an act of last will, by which an individual disposes of his property or of part thereof, in any manner whatsoever,* whether he has or has not charged any one with the execution of his last will, is considered as a testament, if it be, in other respects, clothed with the formalities required by law."
The olographic testament is that which is entirely written, dated and signed by the hand of the testator. It is subject to no other formality. La.C.C. art. 1588.
There are two essential requirements for a valid will, i.e., the act must be in valid form and the clauses it contains, or the manner in which it is made must clearly establish that it is a disposition of last will. The document is in valid form, being entirely written, dated and signed by the decedent. However, in our view, the document fails as a valid will because it lacks the necessary animus testandi. Despite the fact that the document contains terms which arguably reflect an animus testandi (use of the words "bequest" and "bequests"; "to Mrs. Carl W. Hendry (Joann); "Trust Fund and divided among-equally"), the record makes crystal clear that the decedent did not intend the document to be her last will and testament. As found by the trial court, the document, considering the manner and the circumstances prompting its confection, was obviously intended as a listing of information to be used by Mr. Viccellio in the preparation of a statutory will for Ms. Helms. The testimony of Mr. Viccellio, introduced without objection, is unequivocal on this point. Further, there is no contrary evidence, i.e., supporting the conclusion that Ms. Helms intended the document as her olographic last will.
In Succession of Patterson, 188 La. 635, 177 So. 692, 694 (1937), our Supreme Court quoted approvingly from 28 Ruling Case Law, § 3, p. 59 as follows:
"In the interpretation of acts of last will, the intention of the testator must principally be endeavored to be ascertained, without departing, however, from the proper signification of the terms of the testament." Article 1712. But " in the absence of a testamentary intent, there can be no will. Furthermore, the animus testandi must exist when the instrument is executed or acknowledged, and the intent must apply to the particular instrument produced as a will. A paper is not established as a man's will merely by proving that he intended to make a disposition of his property similar to or even identically the same as that contained in the paper. It must satisfactorily appear that he intended the very paper to be his will " (Emphasis ours)
Appellant suggests that the quoted language in Succession of Patterson, supra, is dicta and is not found in our Civil Code. We do not agree. La.C.C. art. 1570 clearly requires that the particular document presented for probate must reflect an animus testandi since it provides that "... a testament and the clauses it contains, or the manner in which it is made, clearly establish that it is a disposition of last will".
For these reasons, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed at appellant's cost.
AFFIRMED.
YELVERTON, J., dissents and assigns written reasons.