Opinion ID: 891577
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Old Age and Weakened Physical or Mental Condition

Text: {20} The district court considered Gregoria's ill health and resultant dependence on her family as evidence contributing to its finding of suspicious circumstances. For instance, it found that [i]n [her] last few years Gregoria C de [B]aca also suffered from age related and stroke related loss of cognitive functioning and memory loss. The Court of Appeals held that this evidence should not have contributed to a finding of undue influence, explaining that evidence of Gregoria's declining physical and mental condition did not demonstrate the susceptibility to influence required under our case law. See Chapman, 2008-NMCA-108, ¶ 18, 144 N.M. 709, 191 P.3d 567. {21} We disagree. It is true that [n]o New Mexico case has based a presumption of undue influence on the fact that the testator was elderly without evidence that the testator's age had affected his or her mental ability. Gonzales, 108 N.M. at 585-86, 775 P.2d at 1302-03. Evidence of ailments with no effect on cognition are simply irrelevant to determine whether the decedent might have been unduly influenced. For this reason, in Lucero v. Lucero (In re Estate of Lucero ), 118 N.M. 636, 642, 884 P.2d 527, 533 (Ct.App.1994), superceded by statute on other grounds as recognized in Garcia v. Taylor (In re Estate of Frietze ), 1998-NMCA-145, ¶ 17, 126 N.M. 16, 966 P.2d 183, the Court of Appeals upheld a directed verdict against will contestants, despite posthumous examinations of testator's medical records generally suggesting senile dementia and cortical atrophy, because undisputed evidence suggested that the decedent was lucid at the time of the execution of the will. Similarly, in Gonzales, 108 N.M. at 586, 775 P.2d at 1303, the Court of Appeals found that the contestants had not raised a suspicion of undue influence when they showed the decedent to be old and sick, but the only evidence regarding her mental state showed her to be alert. Further, when mental weakness is the only suspicious circumstance in a case, even more definitive evidence of susceptibility may be required. See In re Estate of Keeney, 121 N.M. 58, 62, 908 P.2d 751, 755 (Ct.App.1995) (holding that evidence of ill health and emotional instability would not, without more, have supported a presumption of undue influence, but that when combined with the testimony of a psychologist who stated that the decedent's health problems would lead to susceptibility to influence, this evidence, with little else in the way of suspicious circumstances, was sufficient to raise a genuine issue of fact regarding the existence of undue influence). {22} Although Siblings did not present the sort of overwhelming evidence of susceptibility that might justify raising the presumption in and of itself, the evidence they did produce of Gregoria's susceptibility was still relevant. See Chapman, 2008-NMCA-108, ¶ 18, 144 N.M. 709, 191 P.3d 567. Because it concluded to the contrary, the Court of Appeals may have overlooked the following evidence: Gregoria suffered a stroke that had detrimental effects on her cognition, memory, and hearing; she sustained a series of physical maladies including multiple hip replacements, bone fractures, and heart problems; and she took a number of medications with possible cognitive side effects. We agree that without evidence of additional suspicious circumstances, this might not be enough, even assuming the presence of a confidential relationship, to raise the presumption of undue influence. See Keeney, 121 N.M. at 62, 908 P.2d at 755. Also, we concede that it might make a stronger case to secure expert testimony of susceptibility even if other suspicious circumstances are present. See, e.g., Montoya, 113 N.M. at 109, 823 P.2d at 909. However, because this evidence goes directly to Gregoria's mental clarity at the time of the will's execution, we see no reason to categorically exclude it from the district court's ultimate consideration of the evidence as a whole, even if it only marginally contributes to that court's conclusion. See, e.g., Peralta v. Peralta, 2006-NMCA-033, ¶ 22, 139 N.M. 231, 131 P.3d 81 (considering evidence of the decedent's advanced age and physical frailty as contributing to the presumption of undue influence when considered with other suspicious circumstances as a whole). Thus, we disagree with the Court of Appeals that there was insufficient evidence to justify an inference that either Gregoria's age or her health is a suspicious circumstance. Chapman, 2008-NMCA-108, ¶ 18, 144 N.M. 709, 191 P.3d 567.