Court Opinion

ID: 9857854
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:03:41.583925+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:46:46.915068
License: Public Domain

FRASER, Justice.
I concur in the disposition of this case for the following reasons: It is clear from the cases that have dealt with this question that various acts, incidents and eccentricities introduced as evidence and which had occurred shortly before or after the execution of the will have probative value only with reference to the testamentary capacity of testator at the time of the execution of the will. Navarro v. Garcia, Tex.Civ.App., 172 S.W. 723; Kutchinsky v. Zillion, Tex. Civ.App., 183 S.W.2d 237; Bell v. Bell, Tex.Civ.App., 248 S.W.2d 978; Bell v. Bell, Tex.Civ.App., 237 S.W.2d 688. It must be borne in mind that we deal here *621with the offer of a will for prohate where the burden is on the proponent to establish the testamentary capacity of the testator, and which probate was contested at the outset. This is not an attack on a judgment previously rendered admitting a will to probate, and we must keep in mind the location of the burden of the proof which the jury in this case held in effect proponent did not meet.
In the instant case we are confronted with a will that has no unnatural bequests and no provisions suggestive of any but an ordered mind bespeaking testamentary capacity. The testator’s only relative was the contestant, a cousin living in California, and she was not without benefit under the will, as she was given a house. We are also confronted with the fact that there is. no evidence that at the time she gave the information to her attorney and at the time she signed the will in the presence of the witnesses, of any unusual act indicating any lack of testamentary capacity, but the evidence was positively to the contrary, and strongly indicative of the complete possession of faculties. Although her friend did testify that she was uncertain in her gait when she saw her on her way to her attorney’s office, she did further testify that-testator told her quite lucidly where she was going and what she was going to do. Further it must be noted that undue influence was not any issue in this case. We therefore have a normal, logical will, executed by the testator in the presence of witnesses who testified positively that at the time of the signing of the will she appeared to be in full possession of her faculties and to know exactly what she wanted to do, and what she was doing with her property. Opposed to that there is a wealth of testimony dealing with incidents and phenomena suggesting a change in her personality and a weakening of' her mental faculties. The courts have uniformly given great weight to the testimony of witnesses and attorneys who were present at the time of the execution of the instrument. For this reason we are forced to the conclusion that the jury’s answer to the special issue submitted to it is so greatly against the preponderance of the evidence that it cannot be permitted to stand. There is no doubt from the wealth of testimony in this case that many of the testator’s' friends felt that she did things and said things that were not like herself, but her own doctor testified that a patient with her symptoms and maladies 'would have normal and lucid intervals between any seizures that she might suffer and it was evident that such seizures as she may have had were of very slight duration and not particularly intense when felt. We therefore have no choice but to reach the conclusion that ’the great weight of the evidence in this case preponderates against the finding of the jury, especially in view of the fact that those who dealt with her on the date of the preparation and at the actual signing of the will testified positively as to the soundness of her mind and the rationality of her actions at that time. The trial judge could only write the judgment he did write, in answer to the jury’s, finding but we feel that in view of the above reasons he was in erro'r in not granting a motion for a new trial. Bell v. Bell, Tex. Civ.App., 248 S.W.2d 978; Vaughan v. Malone, Tex.Civ.App., 211 S.W, 292; Bell v. Bell, Tex.Civ.App., 237 S.W.2d 688; Na varro v. Garcia, Tex.Civ.App., 172 S.W. 723; Whitney v. Murrie, Tex.Civ.App., 264 S.W. 270; Salinas v. Garcia, Tex.Civ. App., 135 S.W. 588; Milner v. Sims, Tex. Civ.App., 171 S.W. 784.