Estate of Muller

California Court of Appeal May 18, 1936 No. Civ. 10079Published

Before: Gould

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Holding. The court held that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of undue influence, as there was no proof of pressure overpowering the testatrix's volition at the time the will was executed.

Issues

Whether the evidence supported the trial court's finding that the will was procured by undue influence.
Whether the existence of a confidential relationship and opportunity to influence a testator creates a presumption of undue influence.

Disposition. reversed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“In order to set aside a will for undue influence there must be substantial proof of a pressure which overpowered the volition of the testator at the time the will was made.”

“intimacy of association is not proof of domination ; and no inference of undue influence in the matter of the execution of a will is to be drawn from the mere existence of a confidential or intimate relationship.”

GOULD, J.,

pro tem.

When the purser of a coastwise passenger vessel checked off his “berthing sheet” upon arrival at Wilmington, California, April 3, 1933, two passengers, “Mr. and Mrs. Smardon”, did not disembark. Search of their cabin revealed no occupants, but two notes'. One, addressed to the purser, read: “You have two individuals as your guests traveling under a

nom de plume

of Smardon. The true names are J. R. Bodin and Barbara Muller. ’ ’ The other, addressed “To Whom it May Concern”, was couched in this language: “We are leaving this world knowing fully what we are doing, and for reasons of our own, which will eventually mean eternal love and happiness.” Each note was signed with the two names J. R. Bodin and Barbara Muller. Suspicion of suicide was confirmed as to Bodin when his body was washed ashore on the Orange County coastline a few days later. The woman’s body has never been recovered.

On April 4th, the day after the pair’s disappearance, an employee of the Bank of America in Los Angeles received through the mail an envelope postmarked April 3, 1933, Wilmington, California, and containing the following document: “Bank of America, Trust Dept. 7th & Spring, Los Angeles. March 28, 1933. Attention Mr. L. C. Hall: In

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the event of my death I do hereby request that all my rights and equity of my estate and the estate of Bessie Handschiegl and Max Handschiegl be assigned to Jack Bodin, Jr., 452 N. Western Ave., Los Angeles. I also assign to the above all real and personal property. The above is subject to my rescission. Yours truly, Barbara Muller.” The Handschiegls mentioned in the above document were the deceased parents of Barbara Muller, who was their sole heir and devisee; Jack Bodin, Jr., is the minor son of the J. R Bodin who was her companion on the steamship.

When the above document was offered for probate in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County as Barbara Muller’s holographic will, written opposition was filed by two aunts as the heirs at law of said deceased, and a petition in intervention was presented in behalf of one Audrey Louise Bow-din, illegitimate daughter of deceased and her companion, J. R Bodin (otherwise known as Jack Bodin, Sr.), born August 1, 1932. No mention of this illegitimate child is made in the will, she was not produced at the hearing, and so far as the record in this case is concerned it is purely a matter of conjecture whether or not she is alive.

Estate of Muller

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GOULD, J.,

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