Syfer v. Fidelity Trust Co.

William Cook died May 17, 1942, leaving a will dated March 10, 1938, and a codicil dated April 16, 1942. Both were probated in the Orphans’ Court of Baltimore City. Subsequently, another codicil dated March 29, 1940 [referred to herein as the “secret codicil”], was discovered in the pocket of an old coat of the decedent and was offered for probate. A caveat thereto was interposed and issues were framed and sent to the Court of Common Pleas, where a trial before the court, sitting as a jury, resulted in sustaining the caveat and rejecting the secret codicil on the ground that it was impliedly…