Estate of McGuirk

Peter McGuirk died on the third day of August, 1919, leaving a holographic will, dated June 7, 1918. Upon the presentation of the will for probate by Josephine H. Gunston, the sole legatee named therein, a contest thereof, upon the ground that at the time of the execution of the will the deceased was not of sound or disposing mind or memory and was incompetent to make a will, was filed by Mrs. Lizzie Kersey, a sister of deceased. The case was tried before a jury and, at the conclusion of contestant’s evidence, the court granted a nonsuit and rendered a judgment admitting the will to probate, from which contestant has appealed.

[1] Appellant concedes the well-recognized rule that insanity of a testator, in order to affect the validity of his will, must be either of such a broad character as to establish mental incapacity generally, or some specific form thereof, by reason of which the testator is the victim of hallucination or delusion. (Estate of Chevallier, 159 Cal. 168 , [ 113 Pac. 30 ]; Estate of Collins, 174 Cal. 670 , [ 164 Pac. 1110 ].) No claim is made that the testator, when he made the will, was subject to delusions; but it is insisted that “the testator was mentally…