In re the Probate of the Will of Lefferts

John J. Dillon, S.

This is a contested probate proceeding, tried by the court without a jury. The decedent died on June 4, 1960, at the age of about eighty-five. The instrument offered for probate had been executed on August 19, 1958, and was the last of some 13 testamentary documents, both wills and codicils, known to have been made by the decedent since 1942. The validity of the 1958 will is challenged by Mildred T. Lefferts, the decedent’s niece and sole distributee. At the time of the making of the will offered for probate the testator was a childless widower, and the niece was his nearest…