A TESTATOR'S SANITY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 218, 23 December 1910, Page 5

A TESTATOR'S SANITY

<m TESTED IN COURT. By T-elvgta.fh.-~ trees Association. Wellington, Last Night. The final stages of the Hill will case, commenced in the Supreme Court last Saturday before Mr. Justice Cooper, were reached this afternoon. The question at issue was as to the mental condition of the late Herbert Hill, pipe manufacturer, of Wellington, at the time he made his will disposing of his estate, worth between £14,000 and £15,000. Mr. Dunn appeared for the plaintiffs (George, Samuel, Herbert, and Thos. Hill, sons of deceased), and Mr. Oswald Beere, solicitor, of Wellington, executor of the will, was the defendant, for whom, - Mr. M. Myers appeared. The plaintiffs asked that probate of the document be revoked, and a declaration made that the deceased died intestate. Mr. Dunn, addressing the court, urged that the ultimate onus of proof of the sanity of the testator lay upon those who desired to prove the will. '* Mr. Justice Cooper said it had already been decided that that was not the law in New Zealand. That was decided in ihe case of Edgecumbe v. Edgecumbe in 1806, and he agreed with that judgment. In this case the will had already been proved. Plaintiffs desired to upset it, ami the burden was on plaintiffs to prove that the testator was not in a condition to make a will. Mr. Dunn went on to review the evidence, and made the point that deceased had stated that' his property was wortu • £IO,OOO, whereas it had proved to be worth about £14,000. .His Honor: I don't pay much attention to that, because one knows that government valuations are often excessive. Mr. Myers: These were new valuations, after his death, for the purpose of probate. Mr. Dunn went on to urge at length that the late Mr. Hill was not in a fit state to make a will. , Without calling on Mr. Myers, His Honor said he could not set aside the will, and gave judgment for defendant.