Erb v. Lee

This is an appeal by Flora Bates from a decree disallowing a petition brought by Donald R. Erb for the probate of an instrument purporting to be the last will of Maud E. Buzzell (decedent). Richard Lee, grandson of the decedent, opposed the allowance of the petition. A probate court judge found that the decedent was without testamentary capacity when the will was executed. He also found that the will’s execution was not the free act of the decedent but the result of Bates’s exercise of undue influence over her.

Bates argues that there was insufficient evidence to find lack of testamentary…