Hyperlawhypertext legal database In re Proving the Will of Pierson 236 N.Y. 657

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In re Proving the Will of Pierson

236 N.Y. 657 Court N.Y. Decision date 1923-10-23 English

Judges Concur: Hiscock, Ch. J., Hogan, Cardozo, Pound, McLaughlin, Chañe and Andrews, JJ.

Contents

Majority

p. 657
In the Matter of Proving the Will of Mary J. Pierson, Deceased. Marie Shotwell, Appellant; The Attorney-General of the State of New York, Respondent.

Headnote

Will — probate properly denied on ground of indefiniteness of document and lack of proper publication and execution.
Matter of Pierson, 203 App. Div. 673 , affirmed.
(Argued October 4, 1923;
decided October 23, 1923.)
Appeal from an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, entered December 22, 1922, which reversed a decree of the New York County Surrogate’s Court admitting to probate a paper propounded as the last will and testament of Mary J. Pierson, deceased, and denied probate thereto. The Appellate Division held that the circumstances attendant upon execution of the will indicated that the paper was an incomplete and indefinite document which did not express the intention of testatrix but was merely intended as a memorandum. Also that the evidence justified the conclusion that the deceased did not state to those who acted as witnesses that the paper signed "by her was her last will and testament and that the deceased did not regard the paper as her last will and testament.
Cornelius Huth, Herbert Noble and Isidor M. Katz for appellant.
Carl Sherman, Attorney-General (Robert P. Beyer of counsel), for respondent.
Max Altmayer, special guardian for unknown heirs.
p. 658
Order affirmed, with costs; no opinion.

Concur: Hiscock, Ch. J., Hogan, Cardozo, Pound, McLaughlin, Chañe and Andrews, JJ.