Elston's Estate, In re

• Decision Date: 13 October 1953
• Docket Number: No. 35747,35747
• Citation: 262 P.2d 148
• Parties: In re ELSTON'S ESTATE. ELSTON et al. v. ELSTON et al.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Page 148

262 P.2d 148

1953 OK 285

In re ELSTON'S ESTATE.

ELSTON et al. v. ELSTON et al.

No. 35747.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

Oct. 13, 1953.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Where a belief, religious or otherwise, is a creation purely of the imagination, it may be evidence of, or constitute, an insane delusion, but where it is based upon evidence and arrived at through a process of reasoning, though such reasoning may be regarded by the majority of other persons as faulty and illogical, yet, if it is not so contrary to reason that none but a person of unsound mind could entertain it, it is not such a delusion as may be deemed an 'insane delusion'; and though a testator's practical disinheritance of some of his children may have been prompted or brought about by such a belief, such fact, in itself, and without evidence of mental derangement or unbalance in other phases of life or demeanor will not invalidate the will.

2. Evidence examined and Held: That the doctrine of 'withdrawal' from 'rejected' former members of 'The Church of the First Born' subscribed to by the testator and a 'considerable number' of his fellow church members, and which apparently influenced the provisions of his will in regard to his children, did not constitute an 'insane delusion' sufficient in itself to invalidate said will.

Jones & Wesner, Cordell, and Carder & Carder, Hobart, for plaintiffs in error.

J. T. Bailey, Cordell, for defendants in error.

BLACKBIRD, Justice.

The present proceedings contesting the will of the late Harry Elston arose as a result of his practical disinherison of four of his eight children. By the terms of said will, he bequeathed them, the above contestants, only $50 each out of an estate valued at more than $50,000. The remainder was all left to his other four children and his surviving widow, hereinafter referred to as proponents.

The issue in the contest, decided adversely to plaintiffs in error, as contestants, in both the county and district courts, concerned the testator's testamentary capacity. No question is raised herein concerning the testator's physical health or his mental competency with reference to business matters and ordinary affairs of life, there being an abundance of testimony by bankers, business men, and others with whom he had dealings, that the testator exhibited good judgment and acumen in such matters and was fully competent and sane. The only doubt sought to be injected with reference to the general issue of testamentary capacity relates to the testator's beliefs as a member of a religious sect known as 'The Church of the First Born', which he joined while residing at Arnett, near the Fay community in Western Oklahoma, prior to 1910, and later upon removal therefrom, again affiliated with near Rocky, Oklahoma, remaining in the latter church or 'Church Assembly' until his death there in 1952, at the age of 73 years.

According to the evidence, 'The Church of the First Born' has no written creed or doctrine, its practices being governed by the teachings of its elders and ministers, which have been described as inspired 'Prophets', authorized to speak for God. These teachings are based upon the Bible and express the minister's or prophet's interpretation thereof. The particular belief and teaching involved in this case is based upon Chapter 3, Verse 6 of the Book of Thessalonians, (11), as follows:

'Now we command you, brother (brethren), in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received (of us).' (King James Version)

It appears that in or near the community in which the testator lived, the followers of this faith were divided into three separate groups, churches, or church assemblies, each of which took their names after their minister and were known as the Luke's or Holman, the Jack's or Merchant, and the Ott's or Cunningham Churches, which have no connection or association with each other, each believing that the other's prophets are false, misguided or not inspired. The testator belonged to the Holman group referred to in parts of the testimony as the parent or mother church. Apparently, in all three of these groups, members may be expelled or 'rejected' by action of the elders for a number of offenses, including the use of tobacco and marrying a non-member, or 'outside' the church. In case of such expulsion, rejection or excommunication, the members believe that under the above biblical quotation, they should 'withdraw' and disassociate themselves from such former member. The extent to which this church's members go in their interpretation and practice of such withdrawal seems to have varied between the groups at different times. In this connection, beginning about 1910, the Holman group or parent church had an elder and preacher named Clay Tomalson or Thomason, who believed and taught that when a member was expelled or 'rejected', the remaining members should not only withdraw from all association and social intercourse with him, but that in keeping with one statement in the parable concerning the Prodigal Son, (Luke, 15:16) '* * * no man gave unto him', they should see to it that no such former member received any gift, beneficence or bounty at the hands of the members, as long as he remained out of the church. As explained by one of the prominent churchmen who testified, the application of this doctrine or belief could extend, not only to withholding succor and sustenance to a child or relative in need, but also to disinheriting him if he remained out of the church, which he could always re-enter upon application and 'humbling himself' by acknowledging and seeking forgiveness for his former wrongdoing. The evidence was to the effect that the testator was a very devout follower and adherent of the Tomalson theory or interpretation, and tended to show that after the contestants were 'rejected' from the church he had nothing more to do with them except to visit them on only two or three infrequent occasions for a few minutes during illness, and that, as these four of his children never returned to membership in the church, this religious belief was the reason they were given such small and disproportionate bequests in his will.

Contestants' position in this appeal is that the beliefs of the testator, above described, amounted to an 'insane delusion' sufficient to invalidate his will. In their briefs they concede however that 'whether religious views, commonly entertained by a considerable number of persons, are true or false, is not a subject for judicial inquiry.' 57 Am.Jur. 90, Sec. 80. The reason for this, as stated in Scott v. Scott, 212 Ill. 597, 72 N.E. 708, is that no creed or religious belief, in so far as it pertains to an existence after death, can be regarded as a delusion, because there is no test (known to men) by which it can be tried and its truth or falsity demonstrated. They say, however, that the evidence is clear that the testator's beliefs alluded to were not common to other members of his...