Court Opinion

ID: 9776231
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:28:10.423452+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:36.135985
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. The trial court erred in not shifting the burden to the proponents of the will as we required in Park v. George, Pers. Rep., 282 Ark. 155, 667 S.W.2d 644 (1984). It is a firmly established rule that a proponent of a will who is a beneficiary and drafted or caused the will to be drafted has the burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was not the result of undue influence and that the testator had the mental capacity to make the will. Park v. George, supra; Smith v. Welch, 268 Ark. 510, 597 S.W.2d 593 (1980); Greenwood v. Wilson, 267 Ark. 68, 588 S.W.2d 701 (1979); Short v. Stephenson, 238Ark. 1048, 386 S.W.2d 501 (1965). Park, which I consider to be as close to the facts of this case as can be found in Arkansas law, is binding on this court. In the present case the Pierce brothers were extremely close to each other and had lived together all their lives. Mills Pierce was 89 years of age and his younger brother Vernon was 82 when the younger brother died. Vernon was the dominant one. After the younger brother died Delma Dunn, a neighbor, moved into the house with Mills Pierce to take care of him. Immediately thereafter Dunn took decedent to see Dunn’s lawyer, who had never met the decedent. Within a short time the decedent had deeded his farm to Mr. Dunn and given the rest of his property to trusts for purposes the decedent had never before mentioned. The trustees of the trusts were Mr. Dunn, his lawyer, and a third person who was not acquainted with the 89 year old decedent. The majority and the trial court have simply reversed the burden of proof and sidestepped the issue of presumption as it applies to the facts in this case. The standard of proof applied here is that which should be applied to a will where neither party procured its execution. The majority would be right were it not for the fact that appellee procured the execution of the will and obviously benefitted from the whole transaction. A 160 acre farm for $1.00 and a few weeks caring for an invalid is a pretty good bargain. I submit that a reversal of the burden of proof caused the wrong result.