Estate of Scott

55 Cal.App.2d 780 (1942) Estate of AGNES SCOTT, Deceased. STELLA SCOTT MOORE, Appellant,

v.

BANK OF AMERICA NATIONAL TRUST AND SAVINGS ASSOCIATION (a National Banking Association), as Executor, etc., et al., Respondents.

Civ. No. 12163. California Court of Appeals. First Dist., Div. One.

Nov. 30, 1942. Joseph E. Isaacs and Alan H. Critcher for Appellant.

John Ralph Wilson and George K. Ford for Respondents.

KNIGHT, J.

Mrs. Agnes Scott died December 8, 1939, leaving a will which she executed before two witnesses some 22 months prior to her death. She was a widow and childless, and her estate consisted of the property distributed to her on the death of her husband, Arthur Scott. By the terms of her will she bequeathed her entire estate to her sister and brother in Canada, three-fourths to her sister, and one-fourth to her brother. The will was admitted to probate, and thereafter Stella Scott Moore, the daughter of Arthur Scott by a former marriage, filed a contest to the will and asked that the probate thereof be revoked. As ground of contest it was alleged that at the time of the execution of the will the testatrix was of unsound mind due to the excessive use of intoxicants. The cause was tried before a jury, which sustained the validity of the will, and from the judgment entered on the verdict the contestant appeals.

[1] No contention is made that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict and judgment, but as ground for reversal contestant urges that the trial court erred in excluding certain testimony offered by contestant as to the oral declarations of the attending physician which she claimed were inconsistent with the death certificate signed and filed by him.

The circumstances leading up to the making of the ruling were these: Section 10551 of the Health and Safety Code provides that a copy of the record of death "when properly certified by the State or local registrar to have been registered within a period of one year from the date of the event is prima facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts stated in it"; and the proponents of the will in support of their case introduced in evidence the death certificate which had been filed by Dr. Hermon T. Wilson, the attending physician, wherein it was stated that the "principal cause of death, and related causes of importance in order of onset, were as follows: Coronary occlusion 12-8-39 Arteriosclerosis 4-9-38. Other contributing causes of importance: gastritis (Chronic)." Thereafter and without making any attempt to call Dr. Wilson as a witness, the contestant sought to prove by her own testimony that the doctor had told her that Mrs. Scott's death was in part due to excessive use of alcohol. It