Beaumont v. Keim

• Court: Missouri Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: ADAMS
• Citation: Beaumont v. Keim, 50 Mo. 28 (Mo. 1872)
• Decision Date: 31 March 1872
• Parties: ISRAEL G. BEAUMONT, Defendant in Error, v. ISAAC H. KEIM et al., Plaintiffs in Error.

50 Mo. 28

ISRAEL G. BEAUMONT, Defendant in Error,

v.ISAAC H. KEIM et al., Plaintiffs in Error.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

March Term, 1872.

Error to St. Louis Circuit Court.

W. B. Napton, for plaintiffs in error.

T. T. Gantt, for defendant in error.

ADAMS, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.

This was a proceeding under the statute concerning wills, contesting the validity of a will made by Mrs. D. Beaumont on the 9th of May, 1867, and admitted to probate in common form by the Probate Court of St. Louis county on the 31st of October, 1870. The petition and the facts show that Mrs. Beaumont executed two wills, one in 1867 as above stated, and the other in 1869, and the allegation is that she destroyed the last will. Each will disposed of her entire estate, but the disposition made by the one varied from that made by the other. The first will was found in an envelope marked in the handwriting of the testatrix as follows: “Deborah Beaumont's will, June 24, 1869.”

The case was submitted to the court sitting as a jury, and the court found that the script or first will that was probated was not the will of the deceased. The defendants appealed to the general term, where the verdict and judgment was affirmed, and they have brought the case here on writ of error.

Section 12 of the statute of wills (Wagn. Stat. 1366) reads as follows: “If, after making any will, the testator shall duly make and execute a second will, the destruction, canceling, or revocation of such second will shall not revive the first will, unless it appear by the terms of such revocation that it was his intention to revive and give effect to the first will, or unless he shall duly republish...