Opinion ID: 1243172
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Disposition To Influence.

Text: Disposition to unduly influence means more than a desire to obtain a share of the estate. It implies a willingness to do something wrong or unfair. In Matter of Estate of Becker, 76 Wis.2d at 350; Estate of Hamm, 67 Wis.2d at 289, 290; Estate of Brehmer, 41 Wis.2d at 356; Estate of McGonigal, 46 Wis.2d at 214. The evidence in this case shows that Bernice Lee had taken over the decedent's business affairs completely, but as the trial court pointed out, she had merely taken up where her brother had left off when he moved from Milwaukee. Bernice Lee testified that in December 1973, she did consult another attorney other than Mr. Laikin and procured a declaration of intent signed by her father to give her and her children $9,000 in tax free gifts every year. This document was executed twenty-one days before Samuel Kamesar died, at a time when his attending physician testified that he was incapable of making any kind of decision. But this was remote in time from the date of execution of the will in question here. In the Will of Raasch, 230 Wis. 548, 284 N.W. 571 (1939), evidence of a nephew's disposition to influence the testator was based on evidence of overreaching which occurred subsequent to the execution of the will. However, in the Raasch case, the nephew had tried to induce the testator to eliminate a provision for a niece in the very presence of the drafter of the will. There were also a number of assignments that the nephew had procured of property belonging to the testator. The evidence in Raasch was such that the trial court characterized the nephew's activities as follows: to our mind, this conclusively shows that (the nephew) was disposed to use whatever means were at hand to acquire the testator's property. Raasch, page 555. [4] In the case before us, the trial court did not so find, nor are the facts in the two cases sufficiently similar that the conclusion in the Raasch case must follow in the case at bar. The evidence here is quite clear that Armon Kamesar and Jeanette Feldman received substantial gifts from their parents during the parents' lives and that Bernice Lee had not. Even if she had tried to influence her father to make his will more favorable to her than to her brother and sister who had already benefitted from Samuel Kamesar's generosity, such influence would not necessarily be undue. In the Estate of Brehmer, 41 Wis.2d at 356, where the decedent's daughter convinced him that his earlier will was unfair to her, this court said that nothing in the record supported a finding that the daughter was disposed to influence her father for the purpose of procuring an improper favor. The trial court's finding in favor of Bernice Lee on this issue is not against the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence.