Weisker v. Phippen

This is an appeal from a judgment denying probate of 17 handwritten notebook and binder sheets which were offered as the last will and testament of Cecelia Phippen. The decedent’s son, Ellis R. Weisker, is the appellant and proponent of the alleged holographic will, and her other son, H. Warner Phippen, is the respondent and contestant.

The decedent died on February 1, 1962, leaving as her sole heirs at law and next of kin her two adult half-brother sons. The 17 handwritten sheets of paper were found during an examination of the decedent’s personal belongings which took place some time after her death.

The 17 sheets were not folded together, although they were in one group.

It was stipulated that the writing on the 17 sheets of paper was all in the hand of the decedent. Five of the sheets have lines and numbers imprinted on both sides and appear to have been tom from a notebook. The first such sheet is blank on the side which is numbered 39, and which would have been a right-hand page before it was torn from the notebook. The reverse side of this sheet is numbered 40 and, while still in the notebook, would have faced the page numbered 41. Across the top of pages 40 and 41…