Watson v. Christensen

DRAPER, J.

In this will contest, the jury returned special verdicts finding that testator was without testamentary ca

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paeity and that his will was the product of undue influence. Proponents appeal from the judgment denying probate.

Testator was 80 years old at the time of execution of this will, one day before his death. His son, the contestant, was the only child of decedent. Although his parents had been divorced when he was five, he had maintained a close relationship with his father, spending school vacations with him, and, after his own marriage, visited the father frequently.

In 1948, the father purchased a home in Hayward. A substantial portion was rented, as separate apartments, to tenants. He lived alone in the remainder. The father had suffered from bleeding ulcers for many years, but did not complain of his health until the fall of 1957. There is evidence that at that time he told his son: “My health is failing and my mind is going,” and “I am afraid that I can’t take care of myself physically or mentally much longer.” Although he consulted doctors, he refused to accept their advice and continued self-administration of medicaments chosen by himself. He repeatedly urged his son and daughter-in-law to leave the home they leased in Lafayette, move to his home, and care for him there. The son finally agreed to do so, when the tenants had been given reasonable time to arrange to move. Shortly thereafter, father telephoned son late one evening to say he had “kicked the tenants out,” and that the son must move in with him at once. The son did so in late May 1958. The father soon began to become periodically violent in manner and speech, threatened suicide frequently, and insisted that the son’s wife must leave the home.

On June 11, 1958, the son consulted an attorney for aid in obtaining hospitalization for his father. He was referred to the District Attorney’s office, and there signed a petition for commitment of the father as mentally ill. After observation in a local hospital, and on testimony of two psychiatrists, the father was found to be mentally ill and was committed to Stockton State Hospital. Like diagnosis was made by the staff there.

One of the two psychiatrists who testified at the commitment hearing, and a psychiatrist of the state hospital staff, who had examined the father there, both testified at trial of the will contest. They agreed that testator suffered from “chronic brain syndrome, associated with cerebral arteriosclerosis with psychotic reaction,” on the date of his commitment June 16 and on September 17 at the state hospital. They agreed that this mental condition was irreversible, and that it continued