Estate of Stickney

MUSSELL, J.

In this probate proceeding five sheets of paper found in an envelope with other papers, in a desk in decedent’s residence, were offered for probate as the holographic will of Ida A. Stickney, deceased.

A trial was had without a jury and the court found that the offered document was not the last will and testament of Ida A. Stickney; that the alleged will had been altered, torn and cancelled by the decedent with the intent and for the purpose of revoking it; that the said instrument is not, and was not, intended by the decedent to be her last will and testament.

The instrument presented as a will was denied admission to probate and this appeal followed. The sole question here presented is the sufficiency of the evidence to support the findings and judgment.

The envelope containing the purported will and other papers had been sealed and marked “to be opened in case of my death. Kirby’s trust deed to be added.” When found, it had been opened and the five sheets offered as a will were folded and held together with a “slip-on” paper clip. On the last sheet, folded around the others, the following notation in the

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handwriting of the testatrix appears: “Use this to make will from Put Kirby trust deed in. ’ ’

The papers in the envelope, other than those offered as a will, consisted of five separate sheets. One was a typewritten copy of what purported to be a will of one Ella Patterson, and the other four were in the handwriting of the decedent and appear to be partial drafts or parts of a will dated May 9, 1946. Two of these loose sheets had paragraphs so numbered that they could have been used to logically follow and fit in sequence with the first sheet of the offered document. In both of these loose sheets, provision was made for the brother and sister of the decedent. However, in one, a sister was to receive $500 and a brother and his wife $1,000, and in the other, the sister and brother were each to receive $1,000. Changes appear in each sheet of the offered document, except the first. The last sheet is signed and dated May 9, 1946. As evidenced by the renumbering of paragraphs and the shortness of the paper, two paragraphs of the second sheet, as originally written, had been eliminated by cutting off the top part. Paragraph three of the offered document, formerly paragraph five, originally referred to Mrs. Stickney’s property located at 4366, 4368, 4370 Utah Street. However, a line was drawn through the numbers and the words “Utah Street” and the words and figures “2861-Howard” substituted therefor. The word “sold” was written over the reference in said paragraph to a house at 4370 Utah Street. (This property was sold on or about March 16, 1948, and the Howard Street property purchased April 1,1948.) There is no reference to “Kirby’s trust deed” in the purported will other than the notation on the back of the last sheet after the words “use this to make a will from.”