WILL CONTESTED

Evening Star, Issue 22461, 5 October 1936, Page 8

WILL CONTESTED

MENTALITY OF AGED TESTATOR IN QUESTION [Per United Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, October 5. Hearing of an application to have probate of a will allegedly made by the late Elizabeth Smith, spinster, revoked, and the will declared null and void) was commenced before Mr Justice Northcroft in the Supreme Court to-day. The will was sworn for the purposes of probate at £77,000, but at the time it was drawn up the estate was estimated at between £50,000 and £60,000. The plaintiffs were Olive Judge and Ivy Cookson, both of Christchurch, and the defendant was the Guardian Trust and Executors’ Company of New Zealand Ltd. It was claimed by the plaintiffs that at the time the alleged) will,dated June 8, 1934, purported to have been executed, Elizabeth Smith was not of sound mind, memory, and understanding. , , , On Juno 8, 1934, the statement continned, Elizabeth Smith old or thereabouts, and remained' until the dav of her death suffering from senile dementia. . . With the exception of admission that probate of the will was granted to the defendant company on July 19, 1930. the statement of defence was a general denial of the allegations made m the statement of claim. It was agreed that the case for the defence should be taken first, Mr O’Leary, K.C., contending that the onus was on the defendant company to uphold the will. Mr Haslam, for the defendant company, said that at the beginning of 1933 the Guardian Trust Company man, ager became concerned because he found that Miss Smith bad been approached by the representatives of the Investment Executive Trust and_ had transferred to them shares in the South British Insurance Company and the New Zealand Insurance Company. Later she transferred further shares to the representatives of the same comPa £ater the manager of the Guardian Trust found) that Miss Smith had been investing m geld mining companies, a flax company, and a tobacco company, Mr Haslam continued, and he approached the relatives with a view to obtaining an order under the Aged and Infirm Persons Act, but they would not aoree to do so. Finally the Guardian Trust and Executors Company sought and obtained an eider under the Act. For a number of years M : ss Smith had been very careful in financial matters, and it was freely admitted that she had been going round the streets picking «ip small pieces of wood and fruit which fell from stalls. This was probably eccentricity, and was no evidence of incapacity, Mr Haslam added.