Tarsagian v. Watt, 80-1839
| Decision Date | 28 July 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-1839,80-1839 |
| Parties | Sarah TARSAGIAN, individually and as personal representative of the Estate of Andrew Tarsagian, Deceased, Appellant, v. Flora WATT and Mary Pagel, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Yates & Fann and William F. Fann, Jr., Miami Shores, for appellant.
Pilafian & Schaffer and Melvin Schaffer, Miami, for appellees.
Before HUBBART, C.J., and BARKDULL and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.
Flora Watt and Mary Pagel, the children of Andrew Tarsagian, the decedent, sued to annul the nearly two-year-old marriage of their octogenarian father to Sarah Tarsagian and to revoke the probate of his will leaving his modest estate to Sarah. The trial court entered final judgment (a) refusing to annul the marriage because the presumption of the validity of the marriage had not been overcome, and (b) revoking probate of the will finding that it was procured by undue influence exerted by Sarah. The children appeal the former ruling; the wife, the latter.
We affirm that part of the trial court's judgment leaving the marriage intact. We reverse that part of the judgment revoking probate of the will.
The trial court found that Sarah's explanation of her minimal activity in procuring the contested will overcame the presumption that Andrew's will was a result of her undue influence. See In re Estate of Carpenter, 253 So.2d 697 (Fla.1971). 1 But, as it may do, see In re Estate of Carpenter, supra, the trial court found that undue influence was proved by the greater weight of the evidence and without regard to the presumption. In our view, that finding is unsupported by the evidence, which, to the contrary, overwhelmingly establishes that Andrew was not unduly influenced in the making of his will.
Sarah and Andrew met in 1969, and in 1972, after the death of Andrew's first wife, Andrew moved into Sarah's home. Andrew was then 77, Sarah 62. They lived together until they were married in 1977. During their years together, Andrew was ill; and Sarah, who during her working years was a registered nurse, cared for him. In early 1977, Andrew was seriously injured in an automobile accident. During his stay in the hospital, it was determined that he suffered from leukemia. A month after his discharge from the hospital, he and Sarah married. Shortly after their marriage, Andrew made the will sought to be set aside in this case. Andrew died nearly two years later.
Sarah's sole activities in connection with the will were to accompany Andrew to the office of a lawyer, whom she had once met, but with whom she had no prior relationship; to sit in the waiting room while Andrew consulted with the lawyer; and after the will was executed, to place it in her safe deposit box, which, in light of the fact that Andrew did not maintain a box, was used by both. The evidence clearly established that she had played absolutely no role in the conduct of Andrew's financial affairs during their years together.
Courts are not free to treat lightly a testator's intent merely because he has entered into a December marriage and has chosen to leave his last companion his worldly goods. It is his money and his goods to do with as he chooses, see Lilly v. Hutchins, 355 So.2d 212 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978), and unless the...
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...explained that she wanted her brother Robert rather than Murray to serve as executor. [e.s.] * * * Paraphrasing the holding in Tarsagian v. Watt, 402 So.2d at 472, this court is not free to treat lightly the decedent's manifested testamentary intent, whether she leaves her estate entirely t......
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Raimi v. Furlong
...the presumption is rebutted, the contestant must establish undue influence by a preponderance of the evidence. See Tarsagian v. Watt, 402 So.2d 471, 472 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). With reference to "The Barash Will and Amended Trust," the lower court found that a presumption of undue influence was......
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Blits v. Blits, s. 84-1971
...may not find that undue influence is proved by the greater weight of the evidence without regard to the presumption. Tarsagian v. Watt, 402 So.2d 471 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). On remand, the appellants may attempt to prove undue influence without the benefit of any such Affirmed in part, reversed......
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Trusts & estates
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Where the Presumption of Undue Influence Should Not Apply: Consider the "Dutiful Son" and the "Dutiful Daughter" Exceptions.
...undue influence does not apply where a disappointed beneficiary claims undue influence against a surviving spouse. In Tarsagian v. Watt, 402 So. 2d 471 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), the Third District found that a late marriage by an octogenarian man to his wife that ended when he passed two years la......