AIR 2008 (NOC) 2433 (KAR.) = 2008 (4) AIR KAR R 480 ::2008 (3) AJHAR (NOC) 1080 (KAR.) = 2008 (4) AIR KAR R 480 ::2008 (4) AIR Kant HCR 480 ::2008 A I H C 3029

Karnataka High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): N. Kumar , J

(A) Succession Act (39 of 1925) S. 63 — Legal requirements of valid Will — Will should be reduced into writing, signed by testator and shall be attested by two or more witnesses and at least one attesting witnesses shall be examined — If document produced before Court prima facie do not satisfy these legal requirements, Court need not make any further enquiry — And can negative a claim based on the said document (Para 25)

(B) Succession Act (39 of 1925) S. 63 — Will — Disinheritance of natural heirs — Does not render Will invalid but improbable or unnatural — Court to scrutinise evidence with greater decree of care than usual {" A Will may be executed by a person distributing his entire properties to his legal heirs in order to avoid a future dispute. Such distribution may not be equal also. It is quite natural. However, if under a Will the testator were to disinherit a legal heir, in particular his wife and children, then it would be improbable or unnatural, but not invalid. In such circumstances, it is necessary for the Court to find out the reasons for such disinheritance. The reason for such disinheritance sometimes could be found in the Will itself or from extrinsic evidence adduced. Such an exclusion, in the absence of a satisfactory explanation, may also constitute a suspicious circumstance. Therefore, when legal heirs are disinherited, the Court has to scrutinize the evidence with greater decree of care than usual. (Para 26) "}

(C) Succession Act (39 of 1925) S. 63 — Validity of Will — Question of sound state of mind of testator at time of execution of Will — Is dominant question in Court of probate — It is not test of Psychologist, Psycho-analyst or Psychiatrist — Nor scientific test — Propounder has to show by satisfactory evidence that Will was signed by testator and he understood nature and effect of dispositions {" The question of a sound mind is a dominant question in a Court of probate. The test to judge a sound disposing mind is not an absurd test. Nor is it the test of a perfectly healthy and perfect mind. The test of a sound disposing mind is in law a workable test. It is not a hypothetical nor an impracticable test. It is not the test of a psychologist or a psycho-analyst or a psychiatrist who in the modern age, prone to consider all human mind to be inherently unsound by nature and abnormal. Nor, is it the scientific test, which would satisfy the highest technical medical examination. The mental soundness and the physical fitness of the testator is an important circumstance when the testatorial capacity is being scrutinized. In case of weakness of mind arising from near approach of death, strong proof is required that the contents of the Will were known to the testator and that it was his spontaneous act. It is settled law that, the propounder has to show by satisfactory evidence that the Will was signed by the testator and at the r....