In re Estate of Crutcher
| Decision Date | 08 March 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 2003-CA-01139-COA.,2003-CA-01139-COA. |
| Parties | In re ESTATE OF Isaac CRUTCHER, Deceased. Rebecca C. Johnson, Appellant v. Dorothy Dodson, Carolyn Newsom, Ozell Newsom, Diane Mason, Issac Dodson and Wallace Anderson, Appellees. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
John Thomas Lamar, Senatobia, attorney for appellant.
J. Keith Treadway, Olive Branch, attorney for appellees.
EN BANC.
LEE, P.J., for the Court.
¶ 1. This is an appeal from a will contest from the Chancery Court of DeSoto County. The chancellor found that Isaac Crutcher, the decedent, had testamentary capacity to make a will both on November 25, 1991 and on March 29, 1995. Furthermore, the chancellor found that the decedent was not the subject of any undue influence, and, therefore, the will dated March 29, 1995, was the valid last will and testament of the decedent. The proponents of the will are the decedent's great nieces Carolyn Newsom, the executrix, and Diane Mason Jones, and great nephew Isaac Dodson, all of whom are beneficiaries named in the will. The contestant, Rebecca Johnson, sister of the decedent, raises the following two issues on appeal:
II. THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN FINDING THAT THE DECEDENT WAS NOT THE SUBJECT OF UNDUE INFLUENCE IN THE MAKING OF THE WILLS.
¶ 2. Isaac Crutcher, a retired factory worker, departed this earth on September 5, 1996, at the age of seventy five. He left no surviving wife and had no children. Prior to 1989, Crutcher lived alone in a small house on approximately six-acres outside the town of Olive Branch, Mississippi. In 1989, Crutcher suffered a debilitating stroke that greatly impaired his speech and ability to walk. However, he was able to get around with the aid of a walker and often visited nearby neighbors and family by riding his riding lawn mower through the yards to their homes. Crutcher did not have a driver's license, and he was illiterate. His business affairs had been tended to by his sister, Agnes Brown, and this practice continued after his 1989 stroke. He was also looked after by several of his sisters, nieces, and nephews who lived in the surrounding area. Various members of the family provided him with needed transportation, cleaned his house and clothes, and sometimes cooked for him.
¶ 3. On November 25, 1991, Crutcher executed a will in the law offices of Olive Branch attorney Wallace Anderson. Crutcher's great-niece, Carolyn Newsom, along with her husband Ozell Newsom, provided him with transportation to and from Anderson's office. The Newsoms lived next door to Crutcher on a one and a half acre plot that Crutcher sold to them after their marriage sometime around 1975. Carolyn, along with her mother, Dorothy Dodson, her brother, Issac Dodson, and sister, Diane Mason Jones, had been raised in Crutcher's home from the time they were small children and testified that they looked to Crutcher as a father figure. Carolyn, who went to high school with Wallace Anderson, was ultimately responsible for recommending him to Crutcher for the purpose of making out a will. Before this meeting, Anderson had never met Isaac Crutcher.
¶ 4. In the 1991 will, Crutcher named his great-niece, Diane Mason (who later remarried and would add the name "Jones"), as executrix of his will. Under Section IV of the will, he bequeathed his brothers, E.B. Crutcher and R.T. Crutcher, "the right to live in my house as their residence for the term of their natural lives." He also bequeathed all real and personal possessions, including the remainder interest in his house and land, to Diane Mason. The execution, which included Crutcher's full signature, was witnessed by Wallace Anderson and Toni Luther, Anderson's employee.
¶ 5. In 1993, Crutcher suffered another stroke or series of strokes, leaving him, according to testimony, mostly incapacitated. In 1994, after leaving a nursing home, Crutcher lived with his niece, Dorothy Dodson. She, along with Carolyn, assisted him with daily living. Dorothy and Carolyn also took over Crutcher's business affairs from Agnes Brown. During this absence from his own home, Crutcher allowed his great-nephew, Isaac Dodson, to reside in his house.
¶ 6. In March of 1995, Crutcher met with Wallace Anderson to prepare a new will, and on March 29, 1995, Crutcher again met with Anderson to execute this will. Carolyn and her husband again provided transportation to Anderson's office for Crutcher on both occasions.
¶ 7. The 1995 will named Carolyn as executrix of Crutcher's estate. The will also divided Crutcher's real property, the six acres of land, into three tracks comprised of two acres each. Carolyn Newsom and Diane Mason were bequeathed two acres each. The will bequeathed to Isaac Dodson the house, two acres, and all remaining personal property located in and around the house, with the exception of three items specifically bequeathed to other family members. These items included a rifle bequeathed to Agnes Brown, a garden tiller bequeathed to Ozell and Carolyn Newsom, and a riding lawnmower bequeathed to Dorothy Dodson. The will was signed with an "X" on all three pages, and witnessed by Wallace Anderson and his wife, Brenda Anderson.
¶ 8. Isaac Crutcher died on September 5, 1996. On February 24, 1997, Rebecca Johnson, Agnes Brown, and Lovie Cowans, sisters of the decedent, filed a motion for declaratory judgment in the Chancery Court of DeSoto County to declare the decedent's last will and testament legally insufficient, and thus declare that Isaac Crutcher died intestate. On October 17, and December 13, 2002, a trial was held before Chancellor Dennis Baker. Testimony from family members attested to the mental capacity of the decedent and whether the decedent was unduly influenced. On December 30, 2003, the chancellor entered an order declaring that (1) Isaac Crutcher had testamentary capacity on November 25, 1991, and March 29, 1995; (2) Isaac Crutcher acted without undue influence in the making of the wills; and (3) the will dated March 29, 1995 was the last will and testament of Isaac Crutcher. A motion for reconsideration was denied on May 19, 2003. Rebecca Johnson now appeals the order of the chancellor.
¶ 9. Johnson asserts that the chancellor erred in finding that Isaac Crutcher had testamentary capacity when he executed both of his wills. Johnson bases her assertion on the direct testimony from herself and various family members who knew the decedent, saw him on a regular basis, and claimed that after his strokes in 1989 and 1993, Crutcher could not speak, talk, or conduct his own financial business. Johnson also entered into evidence various medical records of the decedent from six occasions where the decedent underwent various medical procedures and was observed by the same physician. On several of these forms, the physician, Dr. Kyle Creson, noted that in addition to suffering various physical ailments, he showed signs of "multi infarct dementia." Dr. Creson also noted that Crutcher had even complained that he "had a change in mental status." On one medical form, dated November 19, 1995, the doctor wrote that Crutcher had been "born with retardation," and was assessed as having "moderate retardation."
¶ 10. The proponents of the will offered testimony that Crutcher was fully capable of making a will on both dates. The witnesses admitted that Crutcher had serious physical ailments, including a severe slur, but countered that he was still capable of communication, that he was able to recognize visitors, and that he was well aware of the amount of property that he owned.
¶ 11. When reviewing the decision of a chancellor who has made findings regarding the credibility of witnesses and weight that is to be given to evidence, our role "is to determine if those findings are supported by substantial evidence, whether the chancellor abused his discretion, was manifestly wrong, or clearly erroneous, or whether he applied an erroneous legal standard." Estate of Evans v. Taylor, 830 So.2d 699, 701(¶ 8) (Miss.Ct.App.2002); In re Estate of Mathis, 800 So.2d 119, 121(¶ 7) (Miss.Ct.App.2001).
¶ 12. This Court has previously addressed the analysis for establishing mental capacity of a testator:
[T]he test of one's capacity to execute a will "is the ability of the testator at the time to understand and appreciate the nature and effect of his act, the natural objects or persons to receive his bounty, and their relation to him, and is capable of determining what disposition he desires to make of his property."
In re Estate of Byrd, 749 So.2d 1214, 1217(¶ 11) (Miss.Ct.App.1999); Matter of Estate of Edwards, 520 So.2d 1370, 1372 (Miss.1988)(quoting Humes v. Krauss, 221 Miss. 301, 310,72 So.2d 737, 739 (1954)).
¶ 13. In this case, the chancellor heard testimony from family members as to Isaac Crutcher's mental capacity. The witnesses, most of whom are possible beneficiaries and have a stake in the outcome of the trial, gave conflicting accounts of Crutcher's mental state both before and after his strokes. However, while accounts of the decedent's mental history provide us with a broad picture, we are mainly concerned with the decedent's capacity at the time of the signing of the wills. Testamentary capacity "is to be tested as of the date of the execution of the will." Byrd, 749 So.2d at 1217(¶ 11) (quoting Scally v. Wardlaw, 123 Miss. 857, 878, 86 So. 625, 626 (1920)). Therefore, we shift our focus to the testimony surrounding November 25, 1991, and March 29, 1995.
¶ 14. The proponents of the will proffered the testimony of three witnesses who observed Crutcher on November 25, 1991. Carolyn and Ozell Newsom testified that they...
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