Last Will and Testament of Melson, In re

• Court: Supreme Court of Delaware
• Writing for the Court: Before VEASEY; WALSH; HARTNETT; BERGER
• Citation: Last Will and Testament of Melson, In re, 711 A.2d 783 (Del. 1998)
• Decision Date: 03 March 1998
• Docket Number: 1997,No. 315,315
• Parties: In re The LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT of Viola L. MELSON. Joseph N. MELSON, Jr., Petitioner Below, Appellant, v. John A. MELSON, personal representative of the Estate of Viola L. Melson, Respondent Below, Appellee. . Submitted:

Page 783

711 A.2d 783

In re The LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT of Viola L. MELSON Joseph N. MELSON, Jr., Petitioner Below, Appellant, v. John A. MELSON, personal representative of the Estate of Viola L. Melson, Respondent Below, Appellee.

No. 315, 1997.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: March 3, 1998.

Decided: May 29, 1998.

Revised: June 5, 1998.

Rehearing Denied July 9, 1998.

Appeal from Court of Chancery. Reversed and remanded.

Court Below: Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware in and for New Castle County, C.A. No. 13781.

Francis J. Trzuskowski, Trzuskowski, Kipp, Kelleher & Pearce, P.A., Wilmington, for Appellant.

John H. Benge, Jr., Wilmington, for Appellee.

Before VEASEY, C.J., WALSH, HOLLAND, HARTNETT and BERGER, JJ., constituting the Court en Banc.

WALSH, Justice (for the majority):

In this appeal from the Court of Chancery, we examine the question of who should bear the burden of persuasion on claims of undue influence and lack of testamentary capacity in a will contest proceeding. The Court of Chancery placed the burden on the contestant, notwithstanding that the proponent, the testatrix's son, drafted the will and was its principal beneficiary. Although earlier Delaware authorities spoke ambiguously in this respect, we now hold that, under the circumstances of this case, the burden of persuasion lay with the drafter/beneficiary.

I

Viola Melson ("Decedent") died on August 31, 1994 in a Wilmington hospital while being treated for an eating disorder. Seventeen days earlier she executed the will that is the subject in this litigation (the "1994 Will"). The 1994 Will substantially altered the property disposition plan of a prior will she had executed in 1977 (the "1977 Will") and changed the designated executor. Decedent was survived by two sons, Joseph Melson ("Joseph") and John Melson ("John"). Under the 1977 Will, Decedent's estate was essentially distributed equally to her sons. Under the 1994 Will, however, the principal beneficiaries are John and his two children, with Joseph's share reduced to one-quarter of the estate. John, who is not an attorney, drafted the 1994 Will using a software package designed for laypersons to prepare their own wills.

When John presented the 1994 Will for probate, Joseph challenged its validity on two grounds: (i) that Decedent lacked testamentary capacity; and (ii) that the will was the product of undue influence and coercion on the part of John. An evidentiary hearing was conducted by the Master in Chancery who issued a report recommending that the challenge to the 1994 Will be dismissed. Joseph filed exceptions to the Master's report, claiming, inter alia, that the Master had erred as a matter of law in assigning the relevant burden of persuasion. The Court of Chancery, reviewing the record de novo, concluded that, while John's conduct in drafting the 1994 Will "raises grounds for suspicion," Joseph had not sustained his burden of proving lack of testamentary capacity or undue influence. Accordingly, the Master's report upholding the will was approved. This appeal followed.

II

In challenging the 1994 Will, Joseph sought to invalidate the will on dual grounds: lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence. While the two claims are conceptually distinct, they may implicate common presumptions and general burdens, particularly where, as here, the drafter of the will benefits materially under its terms. As the Master noted, in this case, the evidence bearing upon the Decedent's mental state may be relevant to both issues of testamentary capacity and undue influence. Because we are required to review the formulation of a legal precept, i.e., the burden of persuasion, our review of the Court of Chancery's approval of the will is de novo. See Nardo v. Nardo, Del.Supr., 209 A.2d 905, 911 (1965).

The factual basis for Joseph's claims that his mother lacked testamentary capacity and was unduly influenced by his brother illustrates the importance of the allocation of the burden of persuasion. In his decision approving the Master's report, the Chancellor recited the "undisputed facts" presented in the record, which we summarize.

At the time of her death, Decedent was within a week of her 82nd birthday. Since the death of her husband in 1977, she had executed two wills. The first, executed on December 14, 1977, had divided her estate equally between her two sons, with Joseph designed as her executor. The 1977 Will had been prepared by an attorney. ¹

During the years intervening between the execution of the two wills, Decedent relied upon both her sons for assistance in financial affairs. During a 1993 illness and hospitalization, she added Joseph's name to her checking account, although she continued to pay her bills independently. Also during 1993, John suggested changes in his mother's will and, in December 1993, he drafted a Power of Attorney for her that would have permitted him to transfer certain of her assets into a trust under which his children would be equal beneficiaries. This document was not executed, however, and Decedent continued to rely upon Joseph to guide her in certain financial dealings.

Decedent was hospitalized on August 10, 1994 for an eating disorder that, unexpectedly, resulted in her death. On the day she entered the hospital, both sons visited their mother and had a disagreement over Joseph's failure to place a certificate of deposit in John's name. The next day, according to John, Decedent asked him to prepare a new will which ensured that her beach property went to her grandchildren, John's two children, while the remainder of the estate was split equally between John and Joseph. John drafted a will for his mother using the software package and presented it to her the following day, August 12. According to John, his mother requested certain revisions involving specific bequests. John made the requested changes and left the will with her. Although John testified that he suggested to his mother that she review the will with other people, Decedent received no independent advice concerning the will drafted by John prior to its execution.

On August 14, 1994, Decedent executed the new will, along with two living wills (one prepared by the hospital) and a power of attorney. The wills were signed in the presence of three witnesses, a hospital employee and two individuals who were visiting another patient. The will was also made "self proved" through the certification of a notary public as permitted by 12 Del.C. § 1305. ²

None of the witnesses to the 1994 Will had previously met Decedent. Only one of the witnesses testified in the Chancery proceedings, and that witness indicated that, while she saw Decedent sign the will, Decedent did not speak to anyone during the will signing. Apparently, a physician was present during the signing of the will but neither acted as a witness nor testified in the Chancery proceeding concerning Decedent's testamentary capacity. No witness testified that Decedent knew that she was signing a will, i.e., that she acknowledged the document to be her will, and the Master made no finding to that effect. The will was executed on a Sunday, during a weekend when Joseph Melson was out of town, and he learned of the execution of the new will only after his mother's death.

III

As the Chancellor noted, while the circumstances attendant upon the execution of the 1994 Will, particularly John's role in guiding his mother's wishes and drafting the document, raise suspicions, a challenger to the will must overcome significant presumptions to invalidate the will. Joseph argues that given the present somewhat unsettled state of the law in this jurisdiction, this Court should align itself with those jurisdictions that preclude the usual presumptions of testamentary capacity and lack of undue influence when the drafter of the will benefits materially from it.

The structure of burdens and presumptions in will contest cases, while not fully defined under Delaware law, reflect certain basic precepts. The initial principle is that duly-executed wills are presumptively valid. "Under Delaware law, all ... will-contest matters start with the presumption that a testator had the capacity to make a will at the time it was made." Matter of Langmeier, Del.Ch., 466 A.2d 386, 389 (1983). Thus, it is the party attacking testamentary capacity who bears the burden of establishing that the decedent was legally incapable of executing a valid will. Id.; In re West, Del.Supr., 522 A.2d 1256, 1263 (1987). Likewise, the challenger carries the burden of proving that the will was a product of undue influence. In re Norton, Del.Supr., 672 A.2d 53, 55 (1996).

No decision of this Court has directly addressed whether and, to what extent, these burdens shift where, as here, the evidence shows that the drafter of the will is also one of its main beneficiaries. Earlier lower court opinions suggest that, under such circumstances, the will's proponent bears some higher obligation to prove testamentary capacity and lack of undue influence.

"If the will be written by a person who is benefited by it, or by a person standing in the relation of counsel or attorney, and who is also benefited by it, these are circumstances to excite a stricter scrutiny and require stricter proof of volition and capacity."

In re Sharpley's Will, Del.Super., 120 A. 586, 590 (1923) (quoting Duffield v. Robeson, Del.Super., 2 Harr. 375 (1837)).

These precedents do not articulate precisely the evidentiary result when an opponent proves that a beneficiary was involved in the drafting of the will--does the proponent bear the burden of persuasion, or, by contrast, simply that of going forward with evidence of capacity? The early cases do imply that the proponent no longer enjoys the full benefit of the usual presumption of testamentary capacity. At a minimum, these cases subject the conduct of the drafter/beneficiary to "stricter scrutiny" in the face of a challenge to the...