Williams' Estate, In re

• Decision Date: 05 August 1952
• Docket Number: No. 34661,34661
• Citation: 207 Okla. 209,249 P.2d 94
• Parties: In re WILLIAMS' ESTATE. WILLIAMS et al. v. GIBSON et al.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Page 94

249 P.2d 94

207 Okla. 209

In re WILLIAMS' ESTATE WILLIAMS et al. v. GIBSON et al.

No. 34661.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

Aug. 5, 1952.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 7, 1952.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. The judgment of the trial court admitting a will to probate will not be disturbed by this court on appeal unless such judgment is clearly against the weight of the evidence.

2. A person has testamentary capacity when his mind and memory are such that he knows, in a general way, the character and extent of his property, understands his relationship to the objects of his bounty and to those who ought to be in his mind on the occasion of making a will, and comprehends the nature and effect of the testamentary act.

3. To defeat a will on ground that a testator lacked testamentary capacity, it is not sufficient merely to establish that the testator was a victim of some delusion, but the evidence must go further and establish that the will itself was the product of that delusion and that the testator devised his property in a way which, except for that delusion, he would not have done.

4. Record examined, and held: that the judgment of the trial court admitting the will of Robert L. Williams to probate is not clearly against the weight of the evidence.

Gomer Smith, Gomer Smith, Jr., Jean P. Day, William M. Allen, Oklahoma City, and Joe Ralls, Atoka, for plaintiffs in error.

Utterback & Utterback, Priscilla W. Utterback, Durant, for Harry W. Gibson, Jr., Executor, and Williams Church, Pike County, Alabama.

W. L. Steger, Durant, for City of Durant, a Municipal Corporation.

BINGAMAN, Justice.

The sole question presented on this appeal is whether on October 11, 1947, Judge Robert L. Williams, was mentally competent to make a will disposing of his property. Judge Williams died on April 10, 1948, and thereafter his will was filed for probate. A petition contesting the will was filed by his two brothers, Thomas M. Williams and Collin C. Williams, and another contest filed by another brother, Boland W. Williams, the two contests being consolidated. Collin C. Williams apparently withdrew from the contest and took no further interest therein, and Boland W. Williams assigned his interest to his two children, James W. Williams and Julia Derryberry. Thereafter, the contest was conducted by Thomas M. Williams, James W. Williams and Julia Derryberry. The will was admitted to probate by the County Court and contestants appealed to the District Court where the matter was heard denovo. At the conclusion of the evidence the District Court upheld the judgment of the County Court approving the will, and contestants appeal.

A large number of witnesses were produced by both sides and many exhibits introduced in evidence. Consequently the record is voluminous, consisting of 1,239 pages of pleadings and evidence and two volumes of exhibits. It is therefore impossible to set out at length the evidence produced by the proponents and contestants of the will. The evidence was conflicting, and we will endeavor to set out in a general way the substance of the evidence produced by both sides.

It is undisputed that at the time of his death Judge Williams was 79 years of age; that he was physically infirm and that he was possessed of a considerable amount of property, including some seven thousand acres of land, insurance policies, bank stock and a considerable amount of other personal property. By his will he left his property in trust to be used for the upkeep and improvement of a small rural church in Alabama, his native state, founded by his father and known as Williams Chapel, and a public library in the City of Durant, named the Robert L. Williams Library. He left a small bequest to one sister to whom he had theretofore deeded a considerable amount of farm land; left an amount to be used in the preparation of five hundred copies of his biography, which were to be distributed in accordance with the provisions of the will, and left to each of his four brothers, Simeon W. Williams, Boland W. Williams, Thomas M. Williams and Collin C. Williams, the sum of $1. While the will is long and somewhat involved, it is clear and coherent and the provisions thereof are plain and understandable. From the record it appears that in 1944, Judge Williams wrote a will, making a similar disposition of his property; that he revised that will, making certain changes therein, in 1946, and that the will of 1947 was a revision of the will previously written in 1946. In each corrected will the bulk of his property was left to the Williams Chapel and the Durant Library and in each of them his brothers were left the sum of $1 only. At the time of his death Judge Williams was a retired Judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Tenth Circuit, and on various occasions in the five or six years preceding his death, was assigned to hold court both in Oklahoma and in Texas.

Proponents in support of the will produced testimony of a number of prominent citizens of the state, members of the Oklahoma Historical Society, of which Judge Williams was President; a large number of citizens of Durant, certain tenants of Judge Williams, as well as others who came in frequent contact with him, all of whom testified that while he was feeble physically, and prone to talk about by-gone events in his life and similar subjects, he was in their opinion at all times mentally alert and competent; that he conducted his business intelligently and profitably; that he knew the description and value of the land owned by him; that both before and after the making of the will he actively functioned as President of the Oklahoma Historical Society and as a director in the Durant National Bank; that he visited his farm properties nearly every week, collected rents and had work done on the farms which was necessary or which would increase their value.

The head of the hospital for the insane at Vinita, a physician who had been in charge of that institution for some sixteen years and who was familiar with and a student of mental conditions, testified that he frequently came in contact with Judge Williams; that he saw and conversed with him either shortly before or shortly after the execution of the will, and that he had observed his demeanor at various times and that in his opinion Judge Williams was at all times mentally competent. It appears that Judge Williams was in the habit of going to Battle Creek Sanitarium, at Battle Creek Michigan, for treatment and observation and his attending physician at that place testified that when Judge Williams was there in August of 1947, he was, in his opinion, mentally alert and competent; that if anything his condition showed some improvement over the years he had previously been treated there. Another physician, a resident of Durant, testified that he and Judge Williams were close personal friends; that he had had occasion to talk to him numerous times and made a trip to Alabama with him in 1940, at which time they went out to Williams Chapel; that the Judge was at all times, in his opinion, mentally competent, knew his property and what he wanted to do with his money. He testified that when he visited Williams Chapel with Judge Williams in 1940, Judge Williams had already made some improvements in the property and that Judge Williams at that time stated that he intended putting some money in a trust fund so that the chapel and the graveyard thereof in which many of his ancestors were buried and another graveyard in the vicinity where the ancestors of the Paul family to whom he was related, were buried was also to be improved and preserved. The evidence shows also that since 1924 or 1925, Judge Williams had had in mind the donation of a public library to the City of Durant. All this evidence indicates that the disposition of his property in the will was not the result of mental incompetency, but that it was due to his considered judgment long prior to the time mental incompetency is charged.

In addition to the testimony of these witnesses, a large number of letters written by Judge Williams, reports of the meetings of the Oklahoma Historical Society and other documents prepared by the Judge, were introduced in evidence. Therefrom it appears that in many of these instruments he made corrections and inserted additional provisions...