Paine v. Sullivan’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““to understand and carry in mind, in a general way, the nature and situation of his property and his relations to those persons who would naturally have some claim to his remembrance[,] . . . freedom from delusion which is the effect of disease or weakness and which might influence the disposition of his property[,] [a]nd . . . ability at the time of execution ... to comprehend the nature of the act of making a will.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In the Matter of the Estate of Galatis

2. “a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in and of itself does not compel a conclusion that a testator lacks capacity to execute a will”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Merrill Lynch v. Flanders-Borden