In re Estate of Grimm, 180 S.W.3d 602 (Tex. App.—Eastland 2005, no pet.).
The trial court granted summary judgment that Testatrix had
testamentary capacity at the time she executed her will. The appellate
court reversed holding that there was a genuine material fact issue with
regard to Testatrix’s testamentary capacity. The evidence on which the
court relied included affidavits discussing Testatrix’s drinking
problem, decline in cognitive thinking, loss of short-term memory,
paranoid and delusional thinking, and general difficulties handling
everyday affairs. The court explained that this evidence was fact-based
rather than conclusory and that the evidence raised more than a mere
suspicion of lack of capacity. The court also indicated that this
evidence was temporally connected to the time of will execution.
Moral: It takes very little evidence to raise a fact issue with respect
to testamentary capacity and thereby preclude a summary judgment.
In re Estate of Grimm, 180 S.W.3d 602 (Tex. App.—Eastland 2005, no pet.).
The trial court granted a no-evidence motion for summary judgment
that Testatrix was subject to undue influence at the time she executed
her will. The appellate court reversed holding that the evidence was
insufficient. The court explained that the evidence merely showed that
Testatrix’s caregiver had the opportunity to exert undue influence.
Accordingly, there was insufficient evidence to present a material fact
issue to defeat a no-evidence motion for summary judgment.
Moral: Evidence showing more than an opportunity to exert undue
influence is necessary to withstand a no-evidence motion for summary
judgment.