Court Opinion

ID: 9777420
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:10:30.552181+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:53.863789
License: Public Domain

Lyle Brown, Justice. This is a will contest case. The appellants are Gayle Ramage Nelson and William Robert Ramage, niece and nephew, and sole heirs at law of the testatrix, Maye Elizabeth Ramage Davis; the appellees are Texarkana Historical Society and Museum and State First National Bank of Texarkana, the special administrator. The probate court admitted to probate an instrument purporting to be the will of Maye Elizabeth Ramage Davis, a widow 78 years of age. The holographic instrument was not signed; the only place in the purported will where her name appeared was in the body thereof. Appellants contend that decedent’s name appearing in the body of the instrument was not written with the intent of authenticating or executing such instrument and therefore it was error to admit it to probate. Appellees contend (1) the signature in the body of the will satisfied the requirements for validity, and (2) the court correctly considered extrinsic evidence to show decedent’s testamentary intent. The instrument admitted to probate reads as follows: Will December 18th 1973 I am in my sane mind today. And I am leaving all my antiques in the living room, dining room and Victorian room and hall to Texarkana Museum in memory of my mother and father, W. R. Ramage and brother Robert Ramage and Maye Elizabeth Ramage Davis. I leave my little Pet Petite to my friend Waneeta Corzine phone — 832-3001 — no answer ring 832-1666. I want three hundred dollars taken out of my savings account at Commercial bank for Petites upkeep. I want the house sold and money to pay any outstanding debts and for the upkeep of Antiques for Museum. I want my kitchen stove, frigidaire and everything in kitchen for Samantha Washington — my maid. I want my XL 100 television to go to Elnora Edwards my maid. I want all my jewelry a fifteen hundred dollar diamond ring all my jewelry and furs to Ethel Gandy my cousin and clothes — Montgomery Alabama. Address 3393 Lebrón St. Zip 36106. Any money on savings pay my monthly bills. Signed and Witnessed by (Signed) Nell Phillips (Signed) Samantha Washington Witness Nell Phillips, an antique dealer, testified as to her business dealings and many personal visits with the testatrix; that on December 18, 1973, the testatrix produced the will and asked Mrs. Phillips to witness it; and that she recognized the handwriting as that of the testatrix. Another antique dealer, Jack Cunningham, testified he saw the testatrix frequently; that he could identify the instrument as having been written in her handwriting; and that he discussed with testatrix the desirability of leaving her valuable collection of antiques to the museum. Cora Cook Thomas testified she and the testatrix had been good friends since high school days; that she could identify the will as being in testatrix’s handwriting; that testatrix had discussed with the witness the subject of a will and she told testatrix to have two witnesses. Catheline Cunningham, another friend of many years standing, testified she was aware that testatrix intended to leave her antiques to the museum; and that the will was entirely in the handwriting of Maye Elizabeth Ramage Davis. Appellant Gayle Ramage Nelson, niece and close neighbor of testatrix, testified that she had not been in the latter’s home for several years, conceding that she and testatrix were not very close, in fact indicated there was some feeling of animosity. Elnora Edwards, who is mentioned in the will, cooked breakfast for the testatrix during the last eighteen months of the latter’s life; she said she was made aware that she would be remembered in the will; and that on the morning of December 20, testatrix said she had made her wilt and it was on top of the piano along with a list of pallbearers. Samantha Washington said she had worked for Mrs. Davis for some fifteen years. She said she witnessed the will on December 18; that Mrs. Phillips came in and witnessed it; and that testatrix told Ms. Washington to put the will on top of the pA.ic. Under the provisions of our probate code of 1949, the signature of a testator need not be written at the end of the will. “Where the entire body of the will and the signature thereto shall be written in the proper handwriting oí the testator, such will may be established by the evidence of at least three credible disinterested witnesses to the handwriting and signature of the testator, notwithstanding there m ay be no attesting witnesses to such will.” Ark. Stat. Ann. § 60-404 (Repl. 1971). Smith v. MacDonald, 252 Ark. 931, 481 S.W. 2d 741 (1972). If the testator’s name is written in or upon some part of the will other than at the end thereof, to be a valid signature it must be shown that the testator wrote his name where he did with the intention of authenticating or executing the instrument as his will. 2 Bowd-Parker: Page on Wills, § 20.9; Estate of Kinney, 16 Cal. 2d 50, 104 P. 2d, 782 (1940). Thus our problem is to determine whether the name Maye Elizabeth Ramage Davis was placed in the body of the will with the intent that it constitute a signature in addition to the intention of creating a memorial. In the second paragraph of the will we find the only mention of testatrix’s name: “And I am leaving all my antiques ... in memory of my mother and ' ether, W. R. Ramage and brother Robert Ramage and Maye Elizabeth Ramage Davis.” /. ijpeSIees rely heavily on our case of Smith v. MacDonald, uiipj'?«. uSot the facts in that case are far different from the facts ixt the case at bar. The first line in that will describes the in-struí -lent as the “Will of Julian Leland Rutherford.” The first paragraph recites: “I, Julian Leland Rutherford ... do hereby make, publish and declare this to be my last will and Aei--uent.” The last line of the instrument then recites: “Wkiucss my hand and seal this If day of July, 1970.” I'l'-t have abstracted at some length the testimony of the wbnrmes. The most that evidence shows is that the instrument was in the handwriting of the testatrix and that she considered it as her will. It would be sheer speculation to assume that those circumstances indicated that she intended her name in the body of the will to be her signature thereto. Oi led at length by appellees is the California case of In re Bloch’s Estate, 248 P. 2d 21 (1952). In that case the single location of the name of the deceased was in the body of the will; in disposing of some bonds the testatrix there referred to “Souds belonging to Helene I. Bloch.” The court held that reference to constitute a signature. We discussed Bloch in our case of Smith v. MacDonald. We did not adopt the decision but merely referred to it as a “very interesting case”. In fact we quoted with apparent approval from the dissenting opinion in that case of Justice Traynor: Regardless of where the name may appear in the instrument, there is always the possibility, of course, that it was intended as a signature. The mere existence of that possibility, however, is not enough to permit a ¡reasonable inference that it was so intended. When the ¡name is used to identify the decedent as the author of the alleged will as in Estate of Kinney, 16 Cal. 2d 50, 104 P. 2d 782 (“I Anna Leona Graves Kinney, do bequeath all my possessions to my four sisters”) or to identify the instrument as decedent’s will as in Estate of Brooks, 214 Cal. 138, 4 P. 2d 148 (“This is my will — Elizabeth Ryan Brooks”), and in addition the instrument appears to be a complete testamentary document, it may reasonably be inferred that the name was placed where it was with the intention of executing the instru-r meet. In such cases the name is linked to the alleged testamentary act and the probabilities that it was intended as a signature are strong. In the present case, on the contrary, decedent’s name appears only in the description of her property. The legislature had a sound basis for requiring that a holographic will be signed by the testator, because that signature is the best and most reliable indication that the signer means for the instrument to be his will. We think, and so hold, that to adopt the majority rule in Bloch would amount to writing the word “signature” out of the statute. Reversed and remanded. Fogleman, J., dissents.