State Bd. of Control for State Homes for Aged v. Hays

• Decision Date: 05 March 1962
• Docket Number: No. 19830,19830
• Citation: 369 P.2d 431
• Parties: STATE BOARD OF CONTROL FOR STATE HOMES FOR the AGED and John Daley, Superintendent of the Monte Vista Golden Age Center, Plaintiffs in Error, v. Irma E. HAYS, Caveator, Shirley M. Davis, Conservatrix of the Estate of William Paden, also known as William M. Paden, Ward, (lately deceased), Defendants in Error.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 431

369 P.2d 431

149 Colo. 400

STATE BOARD OF CONTROL FOR STATE HOMES FOR the AGED and John Daley, Superintendent of the Monte Vista Golden Age Center, Plaintiffs in Error, v. Irma E. HAYS, Caveator, Shirley M. Davis, Conservatrix of the Estate of William Paden, also known as William M. Paden, Ward, (lately deceased) Defendants in Error.

No. 19830.

Supreme Court of Colorado, In Department.

March 5, 1962.

Duke W. Dunbar, Atty. Gen., Frank E. Hickey, Dep. Atty. Gen., Richard A. Zarlengo, Asst. Atty. Gen., for plaintiffs in error.

Charles R. Corlett, Monte Vista, for defendant in error Irma E. Hays, Caveator.

PRINGLE, Justice.

The plaintiffs in error were proponents of the will of William M. Paden in the trial court, and defendant in error Hays was a caveator to the will. Defendant in error Davis, as administratrix, does not appear here.

On July 25, 1959, a document purported to be the Last Will and Testament of William M. Paden, deceased, dated August 29, 1956, was filed in the County Court of Rio Grande County, together with a petition for probate thereof. The will and petition were filed by Shirley M. Davis who had previously been appointed as conservatrix of the estate of William M. Paden, adjudicated a mental incompetent on December 9, 1958.

The purported will, dated August 29, 1956, appointed as executor 'The Commandant of the Colorado State Soldiers and Sailors Home who shall be acting at the time' of death and gave all of decedent's property 'unto the Colorado State Soldiers and Sailors Home, located at Home Lake, Colorado.' Pursuant to order of Court entered July 21, 1959, the ward's estate and the decedent's estate were merged, and Shirley M. Davis was ordered to continue to act as personal representative of the deceased.

Thereafter the caveat and objections to probate of the will were timely filed by Irma E. Hays, a sister of decedent. Mrs. Hays is the sole heir at law of the deceased and the sole legatee under a purported will of the deceased executed April 22, 1955.

Basically the caveat raised five objections to the purported will of August 29, 1956, as follows:

1. That the said instrument was not properly executed, authenticated or declared to be the last will and testament of the deceased.

2. That the instrument was procured by undue influence.

3. That the deceased lacked testamentary capacity.

4. That the sole devisee and legatee named in the will, the Colorado State Soldiers and Sailors Home, is no longer in existence, and, therefore, the only bequest and devise contained in the will has lapsed.

5. That the only bequest and devise contained in the will is too indefinite and uncertain to be given effect.

Subsequently the State Board of Control for State Homes for the Aged entered its appearance as proponent of the instrument dated August 29, 1956, and John Daley, Superintendent of the Monte Vista Golden Age Center, entered his appearance as the person prescribed by law to perform all duties formerly required of the Commandant of the Colorado State Soldiers and Sailors Home at Home Lake, Colorado.

Shortly after the purported will containing the bequest to the Colorado State Soldiers and Sailors Home was made, the statute concerning the administrative direction of the Home and the standards of eligibility for admission thereto were changed, as was the name to Monte Vista Golden Age Center. It was the position of the caveator, among other things, that the changes in the law caused the legacy to lapse.

The proponent filed a petition to segregate from the caveat the question of whether the legacy had lapsed and asked the Court to rule upon this question as a matter of law under Rule 57 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, and C.R.S. '53, 77-11-1, both of which deal with declaratory judgments. The trial court acted upon this request and declared the bequest to the State Soldiers...