Goldberger v. Crocker Citizens National Bank

Opinion

FLEMING, J. Yolan Goldberger, next-of-kin of decedent Maximillian N. Lando, and her assignees, appeal the denial of their petition to revoke probate of decedent’s holographic will on the ground that the will is not entirely in decedent’s handwriting. Respondents are beneficiaries under the will—the University of Minnesota, the Attorney General of California (representing a charitable trust for the benefit of the People of Los Angeles (Estate of Schloss, 56 Cal.2d 248, 257 [14 Cal.Rptr. 643, 363 P.2d 875])), the City of Los Angeles, and the County of Los Angeles—and the executor of the will Crocker-Citizens National Bank.

The will begins with the title, “Last Wül and Testament of Maximillian N. Lando.” The title and the matter following it, which includes the dis-positive provisions, the date, and the signature, are entirely in the handwriting of the decedent. Above the handwritten title, “Last Will and Testament of Maximillian N. Lando,” is an impressed letterhead:

“Dr. M. N. Lando Optometrist 5542 Barton Ave., Hollywood, Calif. Hempstead 4835”

The number “38” has been written in ink after “Calif.,” a line has been drawn through “Hempstead 4835,” and a handwritten “HO-3-0594" has has been added. Thus, the impressed letterhead has been corrected to read:

“Dr. M. N. Lando Optometrist 5542 Barton Ave., Hollywood, Calif. 38 Hempstead 4835 HO-3-0594”

[10]Decedent owned the hand-embossing stamp used to make the impressed letterhead, and he used it on letters and cards. The address on the letterhead was decedent’s address at the time of the execution of the will and at the time of his death. When postal zones were created decedent’s became “38.” His telephone number had been changed from Hempstead 4835 to HO-3-0594.

According to John J. Harris, a handwriting expert who testified for appellants at the trial, the line striking out “Hempstead 4835” was made after the letterhead had been impressed. That line, together with the number “38” and the figures “HO-3-0594,” was in the handwriting of decedent. The written changes in the letterhead were made in black ink similar to that used in the body of the will and could have been made with the same ballpoint pen. No test could show conclusively that these changes and the will itself were written with the same pen, or, if they were, that they were written at the same time. However, two other letters of decedent bearing the same corrected impressed letterhead were introduced, one written in blue ink, the other in red, and the letterhead on each had been corrected in ink of the same color as that used in the body of the letter.