Machens v. Machens
| Citation | 263 S.W.2d 724 |
| Decision Date | 14 December 1953 |
| Docket Number | No. 43278,No. 1,43278,1 |
| Parties | MACHENS et al. v. MACHENS |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Missouri |
B. H. Dyer, Wm. Waye, Jr., St. Charles, for appellant.
Robert V. Niedner, Paul F. Niedner, Niedner & Niedner, St. Charles, for respondents.
This is a will contest, involving title to real estate. The verdict was for plaintiffs, the contestants, against the validity of the will, and defendant, the proponent, has appealed. The case was submitted on the issues of mental capacity and undue influence; and the principal questions on this appeal are whether or not there was substantial evidence to support a verdict on these grounds.
The testator, Henry Machens, died March 26, 1951, at the age of 87. The will was made on March 19, 1949. Testator's wife died in 1921; and from 1927 until his death he made his home with his son Christopher, usually called Chris, occasionally visiting his other children, especially his daughters, for periods of from a few days to a month. Plaintiffs are three sons and three daughters of testator and a grand-daughter, the child of testator's deceased daughter; defendant is also his son. The will contained four articles. Article One gave $25 for masses to the pastor of the St. Francis Catholic Church at Portage des Sioux. Article Two gave all real estate to defendant, and provided that he should pay all debts, funeral expenses, the gift mentioned in Article One, the cost of administration and settlement of the estate and $500 to each of the other six children and to the child of the deceased daughter. Article Three gave all the rest of testator's property to his seven children and one grandchild share and share alike. Article Four appointed defendant executor without bond. The inventory of testator's estate showed $49,800 in real estate and less than $600 in personal property. The substantial property of the estate was two farms which had been operated by defendant for more than 20 years.
Testator had made a will in 1935 in which he divided all his property, real and personal, equally among the seven children (plaintiffs and defendant herein), after certain legacies. This will appointed the testator's brother Andrew executor but, in case he could not serve, appointed his daughter, Gertrude Musgrove. Chris said that testator talked to him several times about this will. In 1948, testator took it out of the desk drawer and put it in a can in a shed, which was practically a fire proof building (a steel machine shed with a concrete floor) because he said he did not want it destroyed if the house should burn. Chris said testator told him that was the way he wanted his estate divided and told him to have it probated when he died. Chris did not learn of the later will until he took this one in for probate after his father's death. Prior to 1948, testator was fairly active and did chores around the farm such as feeding the hogs and the chickens. He seemed to be getting old in 1946 and 1947 and his 'memory was failing him some--not a whole lot, but he would know what you were talking about.' He was 'getting feeble' and didn't take the interest in things like he had prior to that time. On September 15, 1948, testator fell from a corn crib and sustained a fracture in his hip joint. He was taken to a hospital in Alton, Illinois, and was found to also have uremia and an enlarged prostate gland. After his fracture was reduced by use of a nail to hold the bones in place, his prostate gland was removed. Testator was kept in the hospital until October 9th. He was kept in a wheel chair the rest of the year but, by February 1949, he could get around to some extent with crutches; and he used crutches continuously after that time.
Plaintiffs and testimony, concerning testator's mental condition, of two doctors, who treated him after his injury. Dr. William McGinnis, who was his doctor at the hospital, first became acquainted with him in 1938, when he frequently went to the home of Chris to take care of his family. He said testator was a man of intelligence and will power and that he used to have many discussions with him on politics and other things. He said he had very high blood pressure the first time he examined him in March 1941. Dr. McGinnis said, when testator came to the hospital September 15, 1948, he was suffering from shock and circulatory failure so that they did not nail his hip until the 17th. He had developed an obstruction of the urinary system which was later relieved by the prostate operation. X-rays taken in the hospital 'showed severe calcification of the arteries', called arteriosclerosis, 'in lay language hardening of the arteries' which the Doctor said would cause 'inability of the brain to normally function.' Dr. McGinnis also saw testator in January and March 1949. He said, in January, testator's mental condition had been affected by the operation, drugs and other things in connection with it. He said, on March 24th, 'the heart was bad, not functioning normally, his ankles were swollen, his legs were swollen' from 'an abnormal collection of fluid in the tissue', due to arteriosclerosis and general circulatory trouble. He said testator was in a state of mental confusion and 'would not answer questions coherently'; and this was not his mental reaction of 'a couple of years previously.' The Doctor gave his opinion that testator was suffering from senile dementia on March 24th; and that it would not have been any better on March 19th, the day the will was executed. Dr. McGinnis said his opinion was that testator was not of sound mind on that date.
Dr. Joseph Conrad saw testator at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Gertrude Musgrove, in Chillicothe, Missouri, about the first of November 1948. He said, in his opinion, testator 'was a senile dementia case.' He said: He called it 'arteriosclerosis of the brain'; and said: 'The blood vessels become occluded and that part of the brain, where that occlusion is, the brain doesn't function and the blood supply doesn't repair itself. * * * part of the brain has been destroyed by this occlusion of the blood vessels.' Dr. Conrad also said:
Six of the plaintiffs, the sons and daughters of testator, testified as did several of the neighbors of Chris, and a brother of testator, and expressed their opinion based upon personal observation that testator was not of sound mind at the time the will was made. Defendant and several other witnesses gave contrary testimony. There were 52 witnesses and the record contains 2,454 pages, much of which is testimony concerning the conduct and condition of testator. Plaintiff's evidence was that testator had been a man of strong will and intelligence, a very successful farmer, and careful and competent in his business dealings. He was very much interested in politics and current events, reading the daily newspaper, books and magazines, and discussing them with his family and acquaintances; he was also a lover of music, and knew historical dates and geographical facts. After his injury and operation he lost these interests and would talk only of the past in a rambling, disconnected, repetitious way. His conversations 'wouldn't make any sense' and were all jumbled. (Many specific examples of this were given.) His memory failed and he would not recognize friends or members of his family, children and grandchildren. After being told who they were and talking to them he would ask again who they were. He would ask the same questions about many matters over and over again. He would sign any papers (checks, rent receipts, etc.) that he was asked to sign and did not seem to understand or be interested in what they were. He would hold the newspaper upside down and look at it for a long time without seeming to know it. He 'looked like he was always in a daze.' He would not know where he was and, when he was at one of his daughters' homes, would think that he was at the home of Chris. He would not realize seasons of the year, asking if it frosted or snowed in the summer and asking in the winter about fruit and crops. Sometimes when asked what he had been doing, he would say: 'working out in the field.' He also mentioned several times about seeing a man, who had not lived in the community for many years, when there was no one at the place where he was looking. He would be dizzy and have fainting spells. He asked many times about friends and relatives who had been dead for some time and would not remember he had been told they had died. He would ask about clearing land that had been cleared years ago. He would urinate in the yard in the presence of his grandchildren and other people, although he had previously been 'a very modest man.' He could not distinguish between green and ript fruit. He put sugar on potatoes and would eat at the table with his fingers until reminded to use a fork or spoon. Many incidents of a similar character were related, showing he was like a child, with a childish mind, and would do whatever he was told to do.
Defendant contends there was no substantial evidence to show that testator was of unsound mind on March 19, 1949, the date of the will herein involved. Defendant cites and relies on Rothwell v. Love, Mo.Sup., 241 S.W.2d 893; Vaughn v. Vaughn, Mo.Sup., 221 S.W.2d 170; Ahmann v. Elmore, 211 S.W.2d 480; Smith v. Fitzjohn, 354 Mo. 137, 188 S.W.2d 832; Walter v. Alt, 348 Mo. 53, 152 S.W.2d 135; Rex v. Masonic Home of Missouri, 341 Mo. 589, 108 S.W.2d 72; Canty v. Halpin, 294 Mo. 96, 242 S.W. 94. However, the evidence in these cases is not comparable to the evidence in this case. The medical evidence in this case was based on actual observation (and long acquaintance of...
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