In re the Estate of Snide

OPINION OF THE COURT

When this appeal was first before us, the decree of the Surrogate’s Court was reversed, on the law, on the ground that the court improperly admitted to probate purported wills of a husband and wife, identical but for the names of the spouses, each spouse having mistakenly executed the will drawn for the other (74 AD2d 930). The Court of Appeals, rejecting our analysis of a long line of New York cases, reversed and remitted the case to us for a review of the facts (Matter of Snide, 52 NY2d 193).

There is no dispute as to the salient facts which were found by the Surrogate to…