Estate of Oldham

CURTIS, J.

This appeal is taken from an order denying the contest of W. B. and J. F. Oldham to the admission to probate of a certain document purporting to be the last will and testament of John Y. Oldham, deceased, and admitting said document to probate as the last will of said deceased. The ground of said contest is that said document, which purports to be a holographic will, is not entirely written, dated, and signed by the hand of the said John Y. Oldham. The document consists of three sheets of office stationery of the deceased. Upon each of said sheets of paper there were printed at the top thereof the name of the deceased and his address, including the name of the building and the city wherein his office was located. The printed matter on said sheets of paper was as follows:

“Dr. John Y. Oldham

Merchants National Bank Bldg.

Los Angeles, Calif.”

It is claimed by appellants that the printed words “Los Angeles, Calif.” appearing on the first of these three sheets

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of paper are a part of said will, and not being in the handwriting of the testator render the whole document invalid as a holographic will. Appellants rely upon

Estate of Bernard,

197 Cal. 36 [239 Pac. 404], in support of this contention. In that case it was held that the words “Long Beach, California,” upon certain hotel stationery used by the deceased in her attempt to make a holographic will rendered the instrument invalid as a holographic will. In the Bernard case, however, the document which it was sought to probate as a holographic will bore at the top of the first page thereof the following caption: “The following 4 sheets of paper included, Long Beach, California, Oct. 12, 1918,” all of which was in the handwriting of the deceased except the words “Long Beach, California.” In holding that the words “Long Beach, California,” were a part of the document which the deceased intended to execute, and that by their inclusion therein said document was rendered invalid, this court said: ‘ ‘ The printed words are incorporated in and doubtless were intended to be made a part of the heading of the document. The care with which the date has been placed upon the precise line with the printed words indicates that the words immediately preceding the date must have been intended to be made a part of the document as the name of the place of the execution of the document. Moreover, this construction, based upon the relative position of the words, is supported by the juxtaposition of the written word ‘included’ and the printed words ‘Long Beach, California,’ which are in a direct and immediate line thereto. It thus appears that decedent not only wished to make the date a part of the document, but to make, also, the printed portion, designating the place of the making of the document, an essential part of the document. Unless it can be said that the clause at the very top of the will, which reads, ‘ The following 4 sheets of paper included, ’ is a material part and parcel of the will, then there is nothing on the face of the document which in anywise indicates that the testator had executed a completed instrument; and if we take that clause to be a material part of the will, then we are confronted with the fact that the printed words ‘Long Beach, California,’ are likewise a material part and parcel of the will, and therefore it cannot be said, in keeping with the rule enunciated in the