Bolton v. De Peyster

25 Barb. 539, 1857 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 144
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 2, 1857
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 25 Barb. 539 (Bolton v. De Peyster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bolton v. De Peyster, 25 Barb. 539, 1857 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 144 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1857).

Opinion

By the Court, Davies, J.

A perusal of this will must carry with it the conviction that the first object of the testator’s bounty and solicitude ivas his wife. Her comfortable support for life, without the possibility of accident, ivas his chief concern. It is apparent, we think, that he regarded his children, in comparison with ivhat he deemed due to his wife, as secondary objects of his consideration. It would appear from his will, that he had already made some provision for them, and that he gave to his children Louisa and Edward each §5000, “ they having as yet received nothing from me, beyond their educatiofi and support.” From this it might be inferred that the others had received at least an equal amount. Keeping in view therefore, what we think is apparent from the whole tenor of this will, the anxiety of the testator to secure an adequate and comfortable support for his wife during her life, irrespective of any supposed claims of his children, we perceive that she is first to receive out of his estate an annuity of $3000. To secure that, a sufficient portion of his estate ay as to be sold, and the whole if necessary, and the proceeds to the extent of §60,000 invested in bonds and mortgages, or in stocks of the United States or of the state of He ay York, and from such interest and income * the annuity was to be paid. The testator supposed that such fund might produce more than sufficient to pay the annuity, and he directs his executors to re-invest the surplus and accumulate the same during the life of his Avife. After the death of his Avife, he directs that one-eighth part of said sum of §60,000 Avith the accumulations thereof, be disposed of by his wife, by appointment to and among his children and grandchildren, and in default of such appointment the same to be disposed of as he directs as to the other seven-eighths parts of said fund. Of the other seven-eighths parts of said fund after the death of his wife he gives one equal part to each of his seven children, and in case either of his children should then be dead leaving issue, the child or children of such child to take the share or part of its or their [563]*563parent, and if any of his children should have died, leaving no child or. children, then his share was to be divided among his surviving children, and the child or children of any deceased child, per stirpes, and not per capita.

Here we see that the testator, after securing for his wife in the most perfect manner, and in the way best calculated against the possibility of accident, the support which he deemed adequate, his next objects of care and solicitude were the children who might be living at her death, and the grandchildren who had lost their parents. This fund he knew would be adequate for his wife for her life. After that first desire of his heart had been fulfilled, he intended that something should remain to be divided among his children or the children of such as should have deceased. We cannot shut our minds to the conviction that the objects of the testator’s care and bounty were prominently in his mind, and we should do violence to his intentions and the language used by him, if we did not give effect to the one, and due weight to the other. Bearing in mind what we think is apparent from this will, that the testator had made some provision for all his children, and that he was well aware of the vicissitudes of commercial life and' the uncertainty that his children would retain for their support in the evening of life, or for their children, that which might be given to them absolutely, the testator deemed it best in order to secure their enjoyment of at least a portion of his estate, that this was the wisest disposition to make of it. Whether wise or unwise, it is the duty of this court to give to his intentions, when ascertained, their full force and effect. We have no power and we trust no disposition, to make wills for others, and feel that our whole duty is discharged in carrying out fairly and truly the language and true import of those we are called upon to consider.

Assuming, therefore, that this view is correct, and that this fund had been created and the directions of the testator in this regard complied with, how would the rights of the parties to this suit have stood upon the death of Mrs. Jane Lynch, in respect thereto? In default of any appointment by her, Alexander Lynch having died before her, without issue, and Henry Lynch [564]*564and Dominick Lynch having died, each leaving issue, this fund with its accumulations should have been divided into six equal shares, to one of which the plaintiffs, children of Henry Lynch, would have been entitled; to another sixth part the children of Dominick Lynch; James Lynch to another sixth part; Edward Lynch to another sixth part; Louisa Lynch to another sixth part; and Dominick Lynch Lawrence, in the right of his mother, to another sixth part.

By the revised statutes in reference to powers, it is provided, (1 R. 737, § 126,) that lands embraced in a power to devise shall pass by a will purporting to convey all the real property of the testator, unless the intent that the will shall not operate as an execution of the power shall appear, expressly or by necessary implication. A perusal of the will of Jane Lynch shows that it is a disposition of all her real property, and certainly no intent is expressed in the will that it shall not operate as an execution of the power of appointment vested in her as to one-eighth of the property or fund set apart to produce the annuity. Neither can an implication necessarily be derived from the will, that it was not equally the intention of the testatrix that her will should not operate as an execution of the power. It must therefore be determined that the devisee of Jane Lynch took an eighth part of the fund or property thus set aside for the annuity, and the remaining seven-eighths parts, are to be divided into six equal parts, of which the plaintiffs are entitled to an equal part or share ; the children of Dominick Lynch to another equal part or share; James Lynch to another equal part or share; Edward Lynch to another equal part or share; Louisa Lynch, in addition to the one-eighth part which she takes by virtue of the execution of the power of appointment by her mother, another equal part or share; and Dominick Lynch Lawrence, in right of his mother, to another equal part or share.

We come now to the consideration of the question whether there is any fund or portion of the estate of the testator to which these provisions of the will attach and are applicable? It is quite clear that the original design of the testator to convert sufficient of his estate into cash and thereby create a fund of [565]*565§60,000 was not carried out. If any fund for the production of the annuity wras created, it was a substitution of productive real estate instead of the cash derived from a sale, sufficient to produce and secure the annuity. Such alteration is a mere substitution of one species of property for another. The substitution of a different fund or different property will not per se change the character, of the limitation or disposition, but will be impliedly subject to the same disposition and the same general purpose. (Lorillard v. Coster, 5 Paige, 172.) If therefere it shall be found, on examination, that a fund has been created to supply the place of the money to be raised, it follows that the provisions of the testator’s will, relative to the disposition of the residuum, apply with the same effect to the substituted property, that they would have had if no substitution had taken place.

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Bluebook (online)
25 Barb. 539, 1857 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bolton-v-de-peyster-nysupct-1857.