SPINSTER'S WILL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 238, 8 October 1936, Page 8

SPINSTER'S WILL.

ESTATE OF £60,000.

UNSOUND MIND SUGGESTED.

CLAIM MADE BY NIECES.

(By ■ Telegraph.—Press Association.) " 'CHRISTCHURCH, this day.

The hearing of the application to have probate of a will made by the late Elizabeth Smith, spinster, revoked and the will declared null and void was continued before Mr. Justice Nortlicroft in the Supreme Court to-day. . The will was sworn for - purposes of probate at £77,000, but ; at the time it was drawn up the estate was estimated at between £50,000 and £00,000. Plaintiffs are Olive Judge and Ivy Cookson, both of Christcliurch, who are nieces of the testatrix, and defendant is the Guardian Trust and Executors Company of New Zealand, Limited. Plaintiffs claim that at the time the will, ] dated June 8, 1834, was purported to have been executed, Miss Smith was not of sound mind, memory and understanding.

Mr. H. F. O'Leary, K.C., in opening the case for plaintiffs, submitted that there were circumstances about the making of the will such as to excite the suspicions of the Court. In the first place, an order was made in respect of testatrix under the Aged and Infirm Persons Act six months before the will was made, and she was the subject of the order at the time the will was made. Secondly, section 20 of the Act provided for the confirmation of the will of such a person by the Court. ! No independent instructions were given by Miss Smith to her solicitors, he said. Instructions for the will came from the witness, Harris, who represented the Guardian Trust Company, which benefited immediately and in perpetuity under the will. " Great Want of Care." "I do stress at this stage," said Mr. O'Leary, "that there was a great want of care in the preparation of the will. The solicitor concerned should himself have taken the matter in hand. He should have had a medical examination made, and should have gone to the Court under section 20 of the,- Act." William Sidney Smith, artist, of Sumner, a nephew of testatrix, said he had known Miss Smith for about 00 years. For 20 years he visited her every week, and for the last three years once a month. He had seen • his aunt dressed in filthy rags, in strange contrast to her younger days. »vlien she was very dainty, neat and clean. Mr. O'Leary: She did not look after herself personally ? Witness: No. She was in a shocking state. Witness said that his aunt had had very little education. Her memory in later years seemed. to he failing fast. Her speech was disjointed, and inclined to be rambling and dreamy. It was

utter nonsense to suggest that his aunt had formerly been a . good business woman. She seemed to suffer iinder a delusion that she was poor. Witness said that once she had said to him: "Harris is collecting dividends on my shares. I don't know what lie is doing with the money, and I don't know where I stand." Later Miss Smith said:"* "Harris wants me to hand my iffairs over-to him for all time." Witness said to her: "No, I* wouldn't do that. 5 ' • . / . :- , The Judge. Was So' Nice.'' '?■' Later, said witness, his aunt had said she had signed a paper. Her account af it was rambling, but she said something had happened "in camera." She -old witness, "The judge asked me if I understood what I was doing, and I said 'Yes.'" Witness asked why she lad said this when she had not understood, and she replied: "The judge was io nice I couldn't say no."

B&fore the will was made testatrix said to witness: "Harris is worrying me about a will. I don't know what to do. What will happen if I don't?" Witness answered that without a will her money would probably go to relatives, and she appeared to be satisfied with this probability. After the will was made, witness gathered that she was not satisfied. Witness said he was sure his aunt had no idea of the extent of her estate. Ivy Cookson, one of the plaintiffs saul she received £100 under the will. Tlie cheque she received she returned to the Guardian Trust Company. The accumulations in her aunt's house were chiefly rubbish, skins, bits of bread, bottle-caps, pieces of rag, string, paper and very dirty handkerchiefs. Witness said she visited the house frequently, and never saw a fire there, winter or summer. On one occasion Miss' said: "I -didn't want to make a will, but Mr. Harris wanted me to." Mr Barrowclough, for the defence: Uul she complain about Mr. Harris? Wifeless: She said he bossed her. Witness added that Miss Smith had paid, referring to Harris: "He thought it was his money." Medical evidence as to testamentary i capacity of the testator was given when { the hearing of the case was continued this morning. 1 at" 01 !" , Jc il ln Kussell > Deputy-Director of \ Mental Hospitals, said that in February k of this year all papers in connection f with the application under the Aged and ( infirm Persons' Protection Act were 5 placed before him. In his report he i said that from the medical point of view t iie considered Miss Smith did not have } i disposing mind in December 1933 and } t could be proved that she did not have ( i disposing mind six months later. j (Proceeding.) 5-