IN RE ESTATE OF RALPH E. BALCH, DECEASED

Fla. 4th DCA | 1968-10-24
No. 1847
CROSS and OWEN, JJ., concur.
215 So. 2d 343 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1968) Positive Treatment
Cited by 10 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida District Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's decision to revoke probate of a will procured through fraud and undue influence, and to admit a prior will instead. The court found sufficient evidence to support the lower court's finding despite conflicting testimony about the testator's mental capacity and the circumstances of the will's execution.


Holding

The court affirmed the lower court's revocation of probate of the disputed will and admission of the prior will, finding ample evidence to support the finding of fraud and undue influence. The court held that the lower court's notation on the purported codicil was not an order denying its probate, as no petition for probate of the codicil was made.


Key Quotes

“The evidence clearly shows a fiduciary relationship between appellant and the testator. As between the will denied probate and the one admitted to probate, the evidence shows a substantial benefit to the appellant by the execution of the latter will.”

Establishes the court's findings of fact that placed the burden on the appellant to prove lack of fraud and undue influence.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Ralph E. Balch executed a will that substantially benefitted the appellant and contained changes from his prior will. Evidence showed a fiduciary rela…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
HENSLEY, ROBERT E., Associate Judge.

HENSLEY, ROBERT E., Associate Judge.

Appeal is made from the order of the County Judge’s Court of Brevard County revoking probate of a will, the execution of which was found by the court to have been procured by the exercise of fraud and undue influence, and admitting to probate a prior will. Appellant also appeals the alleged denial of probate of a codicil to the prior will.

The substance of appellant’s assignments of error is that there was insufficient evidence to support the holding of the lower court. The evidence clearly shows a fiduciary relationship between appellant and the testator. As between the will denied probate and the one admitted to probate, the evidence shows a substantial benefit to the appellant by the execution of the latter will. Although it is disputed, there is evidence that the appellant procured the drafting of the disputed will. From these facts and others in evidence, there is more than ample testimony to have placed upon the appellant the burden to prove that the disputed will was not the result of fraud and undue influence.

The testimony has many direct conflicts. On the one hand, if believed, it discloses an elderly testator, with full mental capacity, making certain changes in a will, that such changes were not a radical departure from his prior testamentary plan, and that such changes were logical, rational and untainted by any influence on the part of the appellant. On the other hand, there is ample evidence, if believed, that the testator made substantial changes in the will, that such changes substantially benefitted the appel*344lant, that his mental and physical condition was very poor, that there is no believable evidence that the testator directed or had anything to do with the changes made, that the drafting of such changes was directed by the appellant, that the testator was unable to read due to failing eyesight and that there was no evidence that he read the disputed will or that anyone directed his attention to the changes which were being made prior to or at the time of its execution.

The order of the lower court comes to this court with a presumption of correctness. The credibility of the witnesses and the weight of the evidence is solely a matter for the lower court to determine. We find ample evidence, if believed, to support the order appealed from.

Appellant also appeals from an alleged order of the lower court denying probate to a purported codicil to the will which was admitted to probate. This purported codicil was referred to in the testimony taken during the trial of the cause, was only marked for identification, was not placed in evidence, and was only filed in the proceedings by the court after the trial. The court noted upon the face of the purported codicil that it had not been admitted to probate. There being no petition for it to be so admitted, we hold with the lower court that such notation was not intended for, nor was it in fact, an order denying the probate of such codicil.

We affirm.

CROSS and OWEN, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • In re Est. of Coketine Bray Carpenter, 239 So. 2d 506 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970)
    …nion, substituted its judgment for that of the trial judge with respect to the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded their testimony. This is not a proper function of the appellate court. We said In re Estate of Balch, Fla.App.1968, 215 So. 2d 343 (cert.den., Fla.1969, 225 So. 2d 525), in reviewing an order of a county judge which revoked the probate of a will found to have been the product of undue influence: “The order of the lower court comes to this court with a presumption of correctnes…
  • In re Est. of Alek G. Lunga, 271 So. 2d 805 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973)
    …ng at a conclusion of improbability. Westerman v. Shell’s City, Inc., Fla.1972, 265 So. 2d 43. The credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given evidence is solely a matter for the lower court to determine, In re Estate of Balch, Fla.App.1968, 215 So. 2d 343, and it is not the province of a reviewing court to substitute its judgment for the trier of fact. Becklin v. Travelers Indemnity Co., Fla.App.1972, 263 So. 2d 629; Griffith Services, Inc. v. Walter Kidde Constructors, Inc., Fla.App. 1972, 262 So. 2…
  • In re Est. of Lillian B. Whitehead, 248 So. 2d 186 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971)
    …170 So. 620.) It being our view that there was evidence which could reasonably support the County Judge’s findings of ultimate fact and that he did not misconceive controlling principles of law, we must affirm. In re Estate of Balch, Fla.App.1968, 215 So. 2d 343 (cert. den. Fla.1969, 225 So. 2d 525); In re Estate of Nelson, Fla.App.1970, 232 So. 2d 222, 224. We have not overlooked the other points raised by the appellants, but do not consider that they have merit or require discussion. The order on appeal…

Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw