Carley v. Harper

166 A.D. 473, 14 Mills Surr. 438, 151 N.Y.S. 1056, 1915 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6642
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 5, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 166 A.D. 473 (Carley v. Harper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carley v. Harper, 166 A.D. 473, 14 Mills Surr. 438, 151 N.Y.S. 1056, 1915 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6642 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1915).

Opinions

Thomas, J.:

Testatrix, a widow since 1896, made her will in 1900 and died in 1911, leaving personal property, exclusive of that specifically bequeathed, amounting to $81,553.63. The admitted debts are $2,660.59, and claims rejected amount to some $2,407.69. The expenses of administration are $10,557.74, including $9,000 transfer tax. The net balance is sufficient to pay slightly more than one-half of the general legacies, which are $132,200. There was real estate, an important part of which was devised specifically to her sister Julia, or her daughters, while the residue of real and personal property was given, one-half to her sister Julia and one-half to Sarah E. Skillin, a niece by marriage, and her children, to whom also was given the other one-half if Julia did not survive the testatrix. The largest legacy is to Sarah E. Skillin and her three named children, and the same persons took contingently under the 9th and 10th paragraphs of the will. There are three questions: (1) Are the gifts to Sarah E. Skillin and her three children in the 8th, 9th and 10th clauses of the will, to the persons named as a class, or as tenants in common, which inquiry arises because Sarah and her daughter, S. Amelia Skillin, died before the testratrix; (2) did the 5th paragraph carry to the devisees not only lot F, on Washington street, which the testatrix then owned in its entirety, but also all the land used by testatrix as her residence, including lot D at the corner of Washington and Prospect streets, of which at the time of the will she owned one-half and her sister Julia the other undivided one-half, which the testatrix purchased of Julia’s executors in 1903; (3) were the general legacies charged on the land not specifically devised, that is, on the residuary ? The gifts of general legacies to Sarah E. Skillin and her children, designated by name, with direction that they “be [476]*476divided among the four, equally,” with provision for substitution of descendants, were clearly to the several persons as tenants in common and not to them as a class, and the legacy to S. Amelia Skillin lapsed, while that to Sarah E. Skillin went to the surviving children under the substitutionary clause. Under the 5th paragraph, Julia A. Harper’s daughters took the interest in 1903 acquired from Julia’s executors. The excellent discussion in the briefs cannot be reproduced. But the plain condition was that the testatrix lived on parcels of land (identified as A, B, D and E), whereby she continued a possession that had been in her family since 1816, when they were conveyed to her father, from whom they were transmitted to his wife, by her to liis children, and later combined in all conveyances, save as the testatrix finally alienated E to the village of Hempstead. When the testatrix made her will she was confronted with the situation that she could not venture to devise the property with an implication that she owned it, because in that case her sister would be obliged to decline the gift or accept it as devising the whole of the parcels to herself, or, if she died, to her daughter. That is, she would be bound by the will if she took under it. Therefore, the testatrix did all that she could properly do, viz., gave all “right, title and interest in the premises. ” The will indicates that it was drawn by a lawyer, whose duty it was to know that, in absence of contrary intention, a will speaks from the time of the death of the maker, and that paragraph 5 would carry all property, whenever acquired, that it showed intention to give. Whensoever property is acquired, the language of the gift must be comprehensive enough to cover it. The question is not primarily whether the testatrix owned the property when she made the will, but whether the language of the will would transfer it to Julia or her daughters if she did then own it, or later acquired it. All disability to the devise of after-acquired property was removed. Nevertheless, the testatrix may or may not have wished to will it to Julia or her daughters. The statute (Decedent Estate Law, § 14) removes disability and aids construction. So that a person’s will “in express terms, of all his real estate, or in any other terms denoting his intent to devise all his real property, shall be construed to pass [477]*477all the real estate, which he is entitled to devise, at the time of his death.” If the will had been made the day the testatrix died, the words used in the present case would have carried all of her interest in the property. If she had owned the two halves of the property when she made her will, the words used would have covered her whole interest. The words of gift are unlimited, and, moreover, are deemed to have been spoken when the will took effect. The appellants would construe the words as if they were merely descriptive. Their argument in effect is: She owned but one-half; she gave all to which she had title; therefore, she devised one-half. To make that argument persuasive, the appellants must go farther and show that the testatrix intended to speak as of the date of her will. She uses the words “now reside” to describe her residence, but her residence encompasses all the land used in connection with it. She speaks of the whole of the “premises now owned by me situated on Washington street,” whereby, differing from the court below, I conclude that she referred to parcel F only. Those are descriptive words. But she gave all her title in her residence. By residence she means the land in its entirety appropriated for her residence, including parcel D. But she does not assert what the quality of her estate in it was, but as to the property on Washington street she was able to assert that she owned the whole of parcel F. But that does not show an intention to make her will speak as of the date of its execution. The learned counsel for the appellants instances cases where the testator owned a fractional part and gave it and then acquired the outstanding interest and there was holding that the after-acquired interests did not pass. The interest given was construed to be limited. In other words, as I have tried to show, the words must be broad enough to carry the whole property, while in the cases cited the words limited the gift to a part of the property. It is written at the end of the 5th paragraph: “It is my wish that the homestead in which I now reside at Hempstead, New York, may be retained by some member of my family as long as possible.” If appellants are right in their construction, one-half the residence would fall in the residuary. So, if Julia had lived, and there had been no purchase of her part, she would [478]*478have had it all.— but her interest was purchased. It is urged that after purchase it went into the residue, so that if Julia had lived she would have taken three-fourths and the Skillins one-fourth, and that, as she died, the Skillins would take one-half and own in common with Julia’s daughters. So two families would be combined in the possession of the residence. It is difficult to believe that the testatrix so intended, although I do not wish to suggest that discovery of the testator’s intention is to be aided by subsequent events. Instances may arise where the property in fact owned at the date of a will may be useful in identifying what was intended to be passed, and appellants instance such cases, but the mere fact that a person does not own the whole of the property does not preclude it from passing, if later acquired, and the giving words are wide enough to take it in. The legacies are charged on the land not specifically devised. The respondents are aided by the presence of a power of sale (Kalbfleisch v. Kalbfleisch, 67 N. Y. 354; Le Fevre v. Toole, 84 id. 95; Hoyt v. Hoyt, 85 id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Fairclaw v. Forrest
130 F.2d 829 (D.C. Circuit, 1942)
Lee v. Mark C. Tredennick Co.
126 Misc. 613 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1925)
In re the Estate of Davis
126 Misc. 233 (New York Surrogate's Court, 1925)
In re the Construction of the Last Will & Testament of Mould
117 Misc. 1 (New York Surrogate's Court, 1921)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 A.D. 473, 14 Mills Surr. 438, 151 N.Y.S. 1056, 1915 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carley-v-harper-nyappdiv-1915.