Does the inability of the testator to read or write English constitute suspicious circumstances?
In certain circumstances the courts have concluded that the testator’s inability to read or speak English gives rise to suspicious circumstances. In Re Sopel an elderly women could neither read nor write English, but she knew the language well enough to understand what was being said to her in English. The testatrix executed a will, the prime beneficiary of which was the wife of the lawyer who drafted and facilitated its execution. The application for probate was rejected, in part, because the will was not read to the testatrix and the Court concluded that she did not know or approve of the contents of the will. “Mrs. Sopel was in the position of a marksman or blind person. It was the duty of the appellant to advise her that it was necessary that it be read over to her in the presence of the witnesses. Considering the bequest to his wife, the fact that he did not so advise her gives rise to suspicion.” In the Schatz Estate case, the testatrix was a woman whose native tongue was German.
