Catron's Estate

82 Mo. App. 416, 1900 Mo. App. LEXIS 259
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 8, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 82 Mo. App. 416 (Catron's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Catron's Estate, 82 Mo. App. 416, 1900 Mo. App. LEXIS 259 (Mo. Ct. App. 1900).

Opinion

GILL, J.

This is an appeal from a final order of distribution made in the estate of Mrs. Martha Catron, who died in Lafayette county in March, 1891. At the date of her death Mrs. Catron left an estate valued at about $100,000, and consisting of both real and personal property. She had only two children — James H. Catron and Mrs. Frances Eva-line McEadin, and both living separate and apart from their mother. The deceased left a will by which she set apart .and gave to her daughter, Mrs. McEadin, during her life, the net interest or income from $5,000 which was directed to be loaned by a trustee, and which at the death of Mrs. McEadin was to vest absolutely in her children. The entire remainder of the estate was devised and bequeathed to said James H. Gatron, son of the deceased.

Shortly after the decease of Mrs. Catron, and before the trustee had taken charge of the $5,000, the income of which was to go to Mrs. McEadin, the latter commenced a suit to contest the will, and on the ground of the alleged incapacity of the testatrix and undue influence exercised over her by [420]*420James H. Catron, the principal legatee. This litigation was protracted through a series of years, was twice in the supreme court (120 Mo. 252 and 138 Mo. 197), terminating however in June, 1897, in the establishment of the will.

In the beginning of this litigation, the probate court, as the statute provides in such cases, appointed J. Q. Plattenburg administrator pendente lite° of the estate of Mrs. Catron. Said administrator took charge of the assets and under the direction of the court so managed and loaned the funds, that on his final settlement, and turning back of the estate into the hands of the executor in October, 1897, there was a net gain or increase thereof of $5,448.83. Shortly thereafter the executor made final settlement, reporting the money and assets received from the administrator pendente lite, and the probate court proceeded to make final distribution, ordering the net balance of money on hand to be paid out as follows:

“To" the trustee of Mrs. Prances Evaline Mc-Padin and her heirs the sum of..........$ 5,000.00
“To Mrs. Prances Evaline McPadin the interest accumulated on said sum during the pendency of the suit contesting the will of deceased, after paying the taxes and costs, the sum oí . ..'............................$1,564.50
“To J ames Henry Catron, residuary legatee, the . sum of............................$21,155.25”

Prom this order the executor and James H. Oatron, residuary legatee, appealed to the circuit court, where the judgment of-the probate court was affirmed, and said parties then appealed to this court.

1. In addition to the foregoing, it is proper to state, that before the trial in the circuit court, the executor paid oyer the $5,000 to the trustee of Mrs. McPadin and her children, leaving as the sole matter in controversy, the $1,564.50 which the probate court directed to be paid to Mrs. McPadin as the net “interest accumulated on said sum ($5,000) during the pendency of the suit contesting the will of deceased.”

[421]*421There is a general rule in the distribution of general legacies that interest thereon will not be allowed for the first year after the death of the testator. The reason for this rale is that such legacies are not ordinarily due or payable until after the year — that time being given to the executor to inform himself of the condition of the property and be prepared for such payments. Analagous to this our statute of distributions provides that executors shall not be compelled to pay legacies until one year after the date of letters of administration. On the basis, now, of this doctrine the executor and residuary legatee contend that Mrs. McEadin is not entitled to the interest that accrued and accumulated on the $5,000 legacy-carved out of Mrs. Catron’s property. It is, in effect, claimed that the trustee had no right to call for said legacy until the expiration of the year — -that it was not payable until after that time, and hence no income or interest could be rightfully claimed as arising from the $5,000 during that period. And further it is insisted that Mrs. McEadin had no right to interest on the money (the income of which was bequeathed to her) even after the year had gone by and while she was attaching the will by a pending suit.

On the other hand, counsel for Mrs. McEadin take the position that under the will of her mother, said Mrs. McEadin became entitled to the income or profit arising from a designated portion of the estate; that this income was her legacy, and that the executor had no greater right to take said income or any part thereof from her than to appropriate said $5,000 bequeathed to her children.

Counsel for both sides have furnished exhaustive, briefs, citing numerous authorities, the most satisfactory of which we proceed to notice. Eyre v. Golding, 5 Binn. 472, was a case very similar to this. Mrs. Golding’s father died leaving her by will the annual interest of a certain sum taken from the estate, said interest to be paid during the life of the legatee, and at her death the principal sum to be equally di[422]*422vided between, her children. The executor refused to pay the interest accruing the first year, and on a suit brought therefor by Mrs. Golding she was allowed to recover. After stating the general rule, that where a pecuniary legacy is given with no time of payment mentioned, it is not payable till the end of a year from the death of the testator, nor carry interest until after the first year, Tilghman, O. I., proceeds to say, that to this rule there are exceptions, naming among these the legacy to a child the support of which is not provided for, and where it will be understood that interest will be allowed from the death of the testator. “The devise in the present instance,” says the learned judge, “is not of a gross sum, but in the nature of an annuity. There is a difference between a legacy of a sum of money to one for term of life, and a bequest of a sum to be paid annually for life. In the former case, the legacy, not being payable till the end of a year from the testator’s death carries no interest for the year. But in the latter, the first payment of the annuity must be made at the end of the first year, or the intention of the testator is not complied with. You must count the time immediately from his death, or the legatee will not receive the annuity annually during her life.”

In re Hilyard’s Estate, 5 W. & S. 30, decided by the same court, is still more in point. Hilyard gave unto his executors the sum of $10,000 in trust, to be put at interest on good security, with instructions “to pay and apply the interest and income thereof, from time to time, when as the same shall be got in and received, unto my sister Keziah Tomlinson for and during all the term of her natural life,” and at her death said sum of $10,000 to be equally divided between the children of the testator’s brother, etc. It was there held that the sister, Keziah, was entitled to the interest growing out of and accruing on said $10,000 from the date of the testator’s death. The court there adopted practically the same views [423]*423as announced in the case reported in 5 Binney. “Interest,” says the court, “is in its nature an annual profit.”

In Ayre v. Ayre, 128 Mass. 575, the same principle wras involved.

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Bluebook (online)
82 Mo. App. 416, 1900 Mo. App. LEXIS 259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/catrons-estate-moctapp-1900.