{
  "id": 8627568,
  "name": "MABEL L. ROUNTREE v. ALBERT E. ROUNTREE, JR., et al.",
  "name_abbreviation": "Rountree v. Rountree",
  "decision_date": "1938-03-23",
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  "first_page": "252",
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    "name": "Supreme Court of North Carolina"
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T20:08:52.368812+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "MABEL L. ROUNTREE v. ALBERT E. ROUNTREE, JR., et al."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Stacy, C. J.\nOn the hearing the matter was properly made to turn on whether the paper writing, which has been probated in common form as the last will and testament of Albert E. Rountree, deceased, is sufficient in character and substance to constitute his will. The trial court ruled in favor of its sufficiency on authority of Wise v. Short, 181 N. C., 320, 107 S. E., 134. With this we agree.\nA paper writing which bears upon its face, as the present instrument does, the animus testandi of the maker will be declared his will as a matter of law. In re Will of Rowland, 206 N. C., 456, 174 S. E., 284; In re Will of Ledford, 176 N. C., 610, 97 S. E., 482; Outlaw v. Hurdle, 46 N. C., 150. Indeed, when the testamentary intent appears on the face of a paper writing its character is fixed. In re Southerland, 188 N. C., 325, 124 S. E., 632.\nIn the instant case the writer was in bad health. He wanted his kinsman, a lawyer and former judge, \u201cto take charge\u201d of his affairs \u201cand arrange so Mable can carry on. Everything is left to her.\u201d This is dispositive language. Spencer v. Spencer, 163 N. C., 83, 79 S. E., 291. The communication was addressed to one to whom the writer would naturally turn for counsel and advice in the settlement of his estate, but would hardly have asked \u201cto take charge\u201d of his affairs during his lifetime. He knew that after his death proper management would be necessary to preserve his estate, so he requested his kinsman, who was eminently capable of fulfilling the trust, to \u201carrange so Mable can carry on,\u201d as everything is left to her. This means that at the writer\u2019s going or demise \u201ceverything is left to her.\u201d He undoubtedly intended the letter as his will. He did not mail it, but placed it in his safe among his valuable papers. \u201cPlease do this for me\u201d was his final request. The writing is testamentary in character. In re Rowland, 202 N. C., 373, 162 S. E., 897.\nOne definition of a will is that it is the duly expressed mind of a competent person as to what he would have done after his death with those matters and things over which he has the right of control and disposition. Richardson v. Cheek, 212 N. C., 510. Tbe paper writing in question seems to meet tbis test. In re Will of Thompson, 196 N. C., 271, 145 S. E., 393; In re Johnson, 181 N. C., 303, 106 S. E., 841. Nothing was said in In re Bennett, 180 N. C., 5, 103 S. E., 917, or in In re Perry, 193 N. C., 397, 137 S. E., 145, wbicb militates against tbis position.\nTbe judgment is approved.\nAffirmed.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Stacy, C. J."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Charles F. Rouse for petitioner, appellee.",
      "Albert W. Cowper for respondents, appellants."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "MABEL L. ROUNTREE v. ALBERT E. ROUNTREE, JR., et al.\n(Filed 23 March, 1938.)\n1. Wills \u00a7 1\u2014\nA paper writing in the handwriting of deceased, found among his valuable papers after his death, and bearing upon its face the animus testandi, will be declared his will as a matter of law.\nS. Wills \u00a7 3 \u2014 Paper1 writing in this case held to disclose the animus tes-tandi which fixes the character of the instrument as a will.\nA letter in the handwriting of deceased, found among his valuable papers, directed to his lawyer kinsman and asking him \u201cto take charge\u201d of his affairs and \u201carrange so Mable (the writer\u2019s wife) can carry on. Everything is left to her,\u201d is held to disclose the animus testandi and to constitute the will of the writer, the letter not having been mailed, but placed among the writer\u2019s valuable papers, and the addressee being a person whom the writer would naturally designate to handle his estate.\n3. Wills \u00a7 1\u2014\nA will is the duly expressed mind of a competent person as to what he would have done after his death with those matters and things over which he has the right of control and disposition.\nAppeal by respondents from FrizzeUe, J., at February Term, 1938, of LeNOIR.\nProceeding under Declaratory Judgment Act, ch. 102, Public Laws 1931, to determine character of paper writing probated as a will.\nFollowing the death of Albert E. Rountree on 3 March, 1934, there was found in his safe, among his valuable papers and effects, in a sealed envelope, written wholly in his own hand, a paper writing in the form of a letter addressed to his kinsman, Honorable George Rountree, Wilmington, N. C., attorney at law and former judge, in words and figures as follows:\n\u201c10 January, 1930.\nHoN. Geo. Rountree,\nWilmington, N. C.\n\u201cDeae CousiN Geo. : \u2014 My affairs are in bad shape and I am in bad health. If managed properly there is enough to keep my family from want. Will you please take charge and arrange so Mable can carry on.\n\u201cEverything is left to her.\n\u201cPlease do this for me.\nSincerely,\nAlbert E. Rountree.\u201d\nUpon the discovery of this letter the same was probated in common form as the last will and testament of the deceased.\nThe deceased left him surviving his widow, Mabel L. Rountree, petitioner herein, and four children parties hereto.\nAt the time of decedent\u2019s death he was tenant in common with Sallie R. Crisp and Rosabel R. Cowper of a tract of land in Lenoir County, each being seized of a one-third undivided interest therein.\nMabel L. Rountree, the person designated in the above paper writing as \u201cMable,\u201d and who claims as sole beneficiary and devisee thereunder, has suggested a voluntary division and partition of said tract of land, and the other tenants in common have consented to join with her in the execution of partition agreement or divisional deeds \u201cin the event the petitioner shall be judicially declared to be the owner of a one-third undivided interest therein, . . . but defendants have questioned the validity of the paper writing quoted above as the last will and testament of Albert E. Rountree, deceased,\u201d and for tbe purpose of obtaining the desired judicial declaration the respondents deny that the petitioner is the owner of a one-third undivided interest in the land in question.\nThe court being of opinion that said paper writing \u201cappears to have been written animo iestandi, and, on its face, is a valid will,\u201d entered judgment approving the voluntary partition, from which the respondents have appealed.\nCharles F. Rouse for petitioner, appellee.\nAlbert W. Cowper for respondents, appellants."
  },
  "file_name": "0252-01",
  "first_page_order": 316,
  "last_page_order": 319
}