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Wilson v. Lane

Evidence of the elderly testator's eccentricities was insufficient to support a finding that she lacked testamentary capacity.

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After Executrix Katherine Lane offered Jewel Jones Greer’s 1997 last will and testament for probate, Floyd Wilson filed a caveat, challenging Greer’s testamentary capacity. A Jasper County Superior Court jury found that Greer lacked testamentary capacity at the time she executed her will, but the trial court granted Lane’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Wilson appeals. Because we agree that there was no evidence to show that Greer lacked testamentary capacity, we affirm. A person is mentally capable to make a will if she “has sufficient intellect to enable her to have a decided and rational desire as to the disposition of her property. . .”1 In this case, the propounders introduced evidence that the will in question distributed Greer’s property equally to seventeen beneficiaries, sixteen of whom are blood-relatives to Greer. The only non-relative beneficiary is Katherine Lane, who spent much of her time caring for Greer before her death in 2000. The drafting attorney testified that in his opinion, at the time the 1997 will was signed, Greer was mentally competent, and that she emphatically selected every beneficiary named in the will. Numerous other friends and acquaintances also testified that Greer had a clear mind at the time the will was signed.

Thus, the propounders established a presumption that Greer possessed testamentary capacity. The caveators, however, never presented any evidence whatsoever showing that Greer was incapable of forming a decided and rational desire as to the disposition of her property,2 even when the evidence is examined in the light most favorable to their case.

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