Opinion ID: 2019871
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Testator's Ability to Understand the Will.

Text: The objector also submits that even if Rade's competency was such as to enable him to make a valid will there is insufficient proof that he did intentionally and understandingly make this will. This rests on a theory that Rade, who was of Serbian birth, could not communicate satisfactorily in the English language and, therefore, Rade was not able to express his wishes to the scrivener who drafted the will and who understood and spoke only English, nor could Rade understand the will when the scrivener read it back in English to him nor could he read the will for himself. It must be conceded Rade could not have read the will but it is not one difficult to understand. The scrivener, Attorney Higgins, testified that he was able to understand what Rade wanted and that Rade understood the will which Higgins prepared and read to him. Numerous other witnesses called by Anna, the proponent, testified that Rade could understand and be understood in the English language when conversing on simple subjects. He could make purchases in stores and argue about his tax bills. Such witnesses testified that Rade was able to express himself in English and to understand what was said to him in English in the everyday pursuits of his life. Rade came alone to the office of Attorney Higgins to have a will prepared and it was Rade and no one else who told Higgins how the property should be distributed. Inspection of the will shows that Rade was able to tell Higgins who his  children were and their addresses. The will omitted none of them. (Helen Lucas is one of Rade's married daughters.) In fact, except for the size of the respective bequests, the objector does not contend that Rade did not communicate accurate information to the attorney whom he asked to prepare the will. A few days after the first interview, Rade came to the attorney's office to sign the will, when Higgins told him the will would be ready. Evidently Rade had understood the necessity of this second visit. This occurred in the evening and there were no available witnesses, so Mr. Higgins gave Rade the will, told him to get two good men to be witnesses and when he and the witnesses had signed the will he should mail it back to Mr. Higgins in an envelope which Higgins gave Rade for the purpose. The next day Rade asked his daughter, Anna, if she could take him to two good men to be witnesses to a paper which he was going to sign. Anna said that she was going to the bank and would take him there. The trip to the bank and the execution followed as already described. When the signing had been attended to, Rade asked Anna where he could mail the paper back to Mr. Higgins and Anna took him to the Menomonee Falls post office and pointed out the place where the envelope could be deposited. The will reached Mr. Higgins in the mail in due course. It appears, therefore, that Rade was able to understand the instructions which Mr. Higgins had given him and that he followed the instructions exactly. There can be no question but what Rade could understand Mr. Higgins in that matter and there is not the slightest reason to suppose that Rade did not understand the very simple bequests which Mr. Higgins testified that he read to Rade and that the written will expressed Rade's wishes. We conclude that the testator had testamentary capacity in general and, particularly, at the time of the preparation and  the execution of the will, and was able to communicate his wishes to the scrivener and to understand and approve what the scrivener had written for him in respect to the testator's directions.