Waters v. Reed

• Citation: 129 Mich. 131,88 N.W. 394
• Court: Supreme Court of Michigan
• Decision Date: 21 December 1901
• Parties: WATERS v. REED et al.

88 N.W. 394

129 Mich. 131

WATERS v. REED et al.

Supreme Court of Michigan

December 21, 1901

Error to circuit court, St. Clair county; James G. Tucker, Judge.

Application of Hannah Waters for the probate of the will of Peter W Reed, deceased. Anna W. Reed and others appealed from an order of the probate court admitting the will to probate, and probate was denied by the circuit court, and proponent brings error. Affirmed.

John B. McIlwain and Frank Whipple (C. A. Kent and Lincoln Avery, of counsel), for appellant.

George G. Moore, Herman W. Stevens, and John L. Black, for appellees.

MONTGOMERY C.J.

This is error to review the proceedings of the circuit court, where on appeal from the probate court, the will of Dr. Peter W Reed, deceased, was refused probate. The formal execution of the will was admitted, but its probate was contested, upon the two grounds of mental incompetency and undue influence. The testimony showed that Dr. Reed was, at the time of the execution of the will, which was shortly before his death about 70 years of age. He had been twice married. His first marriage was in 1849, and, by his first wife, he had three children, one of whom (Robert) is living. The daughter of another son was living at the time of Dr. Reed's death. In 1868, Dr. Reed was divorced from his first wife, Ann, and, during the same year, married his second wife, Caroline. There was no issue of this marriage. The children stayed with the mother, and, in a subsequent litigation, in which Ann Reed sought to compel Dr. Reed to support her, Robert was a witness for the mother. There was testimony tending to show, however, that whenever Robert visited Port Huron, Dr. Reed's home, he visited his father, and there was some testimony that the doctor spoke in high terms of his son, and expressed a purpose to leave some portion of his property to him. Robert Reed's visits to Port Huron were, however, very rare, and but little intercourse had taken place between the father and son for 20 years. The granddaughter lived at Port Huron, and appears to have had but one interview with Dr. Reed, which was one of her own seeking. Dr. Reed had had a large practice for many years, and had accumulated a considerable property. For some years before his death, he had been suffering from partial paralysis, and there was testimony in the case tending to show that, as the result of disease and the infirmities of age, his mental capacity was greatly weakened. In the year 1896, and from that time on, Dr. Reed maintained illicit relations with Hannah Waters, the proponent of the will. Hannah Waters gave birth, in 1897, to a child, who is one of the beneficiaries named in the will. The illicit relations between these parties resulted in a divorce between Dr. Reed and his second wife, and, finally, the Waters woman took up her residence in the Reed house, and remained there with Dr. Reed, day and night, up to the time of his death. For a period of seven weeks, Miss Waters was alone in the house with Dr. Reed. During one week, a domestic was employed. The will, after some bequests to Dr. Reed's brothers, gave the balance of the estate to Hannah Waters, in trust for the child, supposed to be the child of Dr. Reed and Hannah Waters, with reversion, in case of the child's death before reaching the age of 21 years, to Hannah Waters. This is but a very brief statement of the facts, but, perhaps, sufficient as an outline of the case. At the conclusion of the testimony, the circuit judge, in a charge evidently prepared with great care, withdrew from the consideration of the jury the question of mental incompetency, but submitted to the jury the question of undue influence.

It may be well to deal first with the special objections to the charge. In the course of his charge, the circuit judge instructed the jury as follows: 'I instruct you that where a man devises the bulk of his property to one standing in the relation to him admittedly occupied by Hannah Waters in this case, such devise is always carefully examined, and that it is a strong circumstance tending to show undue influence.' Counsel for proponent say this is the rule only where there is some proof of undue influence. The circuit judge, in another portion of his charge, made clear that rule, for he instructed the jury as follows: 'As I have said, the giving of the great bulk of his property to Hannah Waters and the child. Priscilla Marie, after having associated with Hannah Waters in the unlawful intimacy herein spoken of, and under the circumstances admitted in this case, is a strong circumstance, to be taken into consideration with the other facts and circumstances in the case, as indicating the probability of the exercising of the power of undue influence over the doctor. You are, however, instructed that ...