Estate of Wynne

Di Giorgio, Davis & Nairn and Thomas R. Davis for Contestants and Appellants.

Mack, Bianco & Means and Henry C. Mack, Sr., for Proponents and Respondents.

CONLEY, P. J.

When Jane R. Wynne died at an advanced age, she left a will and two codicils, which were admitted to probate. The will was dated October 2, 1959. It recited that she was a widow; that she and her husband had never had children, and that her sole heirs were four nieces, who lived outside of California, and one nephew, Richard Ryan Reed of Los Angeles. She bequeathed the sum of $25,000 to the Trinity Episcopal Church at Santa Barbara, $10,000 to the Kern County Chapter of The National Foundation, and $10,000 to the Kern County Heart Association, besides bequests to one of her physicians, Dr. A. E. Currier, and to her attorney, Bennett Siemon of Bakersfield. Her nephew, Richard Ryan Reed, was named as the residuary legatee of the balance of her estate and she nominated Mr. Siemon as executor.

In a codicil, dated September 27, 1961, Mrs. Wynne reduced the bequests to the Trinity Episcopal Church to the sum of $20,000. On the 30th day of March 1962, Mrs. Wynne executed another codicil in which she revoked all three…