Clendening v. Clymer

17 Ind. 155, 1861 Ind. LEXIS 335
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 29, 1861
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 17 Ind. 155 (Clendening v. Clymer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clendening v. Clymer, 17 Ind. 155, 1861 Ind. LEXIS 335 (Ind. 1861).

Opinion

Worden, J.

Phoebe, Glymer, in her lifetime, executed a will, by which she directed that her property, both real and personal, be sold by her executor,' and the proceeds distributed among her children, as therein specified. After making several bequests to other children, the will contains the following items, viz:

“Seventh. I will and bequeath to my dearly beloved daughter, Cynthia Cleadening, and to her heirs, three hundred dollars.
“Eighth. I will and bequeath to my dearly beloved daughter, Photle Edwards, one hundred and forty dollars, which, with what she has received, will make her portion three hundred dollars.
“Ninth. I will and bequeath to my dearly beloved [157]*157daughter, Olinda Bills, and her heir's, three hundred dollars.
Lastly. I will and direct that the residue of my estate be divided equally among- my three daughters, Cynthia Clendening, Olinda Bills and Phoebe Edwards, share and share alike.”

At the time of tire execution of the will, the testatrix had. lands, but disposed of the same before her death.

The executor, having paid the debts, and some of the legacies, including the $140 to Phoebe Edwards, found left in his hands for distribution, the sum of $852.84; -which sum he brought into the proper Court,' to be distributed as it might order, there being- conflicting claims set up thereto.

Thereupon, John Clymer, as guardian of Christian Lid-wards, (who was the son and only issue of Phoebe Edwards,) filed his petition against Cynthia Clendening, and her husband, Robert, alleging that in the lifetime of the testatrix, and a few days before her death, she gave to said Cynthia, and also to said Oiinda Bills, in lands and money, then full share of her estate, with an agreement that such advances should be in full discharge of the bequests. The petition prayed that Cynthia and Olinda be excluded from the distribution.

Clendening and wife, who were alone made defendants to the petition, demurred thereto, but the demurrer was overruled and exception taken. They then answered; and such proceedings wer^had, upon trial of tlxe- issues formed, as that it was ordered by the Court, that the clerk pay $50 to one, and $100 to another legatee, whose legacies had not been paid, and about which sums there is no controversy; and that the residue be paid to said Christian Edwards.

Clendening and wife appeal. We shall pass over the questions as to the validity of the petition, as the substantial merits of the case are otherwise presented by the record.

Tire testatrix survived Phoebe Edwards; the legacy to her, however, did not lapse, but the right thereto vested in her descendant Christian. 2 R. S. 1852, § 13, p. 313. By the order of the Court, he gets not only the $140 bequeathed to [158]*158Ms mother, but the whole residue of the estate, which was directed by the will to be distributed equally between his mother and Gynthia and OUnda. This order of the Court was ma(^e on following facts, appearing by the evidence: The testatrix, in her lifetime, advanced to Gynthia and OUnda, each, the sum of $100. The inference from the evidence is, that those advancements were made after the execution of the will. She, also, a few days before her death, made arrangements by which Gynthia and OUnda, each, or perhaps their husbands in their right, received from her, lands estimated at $100. There is parol evidence having- a tendency to show that the land and money thus received by them, were received in full of their legacies, and of their share in the estate, and were so intended by the testatrix.

We are inclined to the opinion that the money and land, thus received by Gynthia and OUnda, may be regarded as an ademption of the respective legacies of $300, thus bequeathed to them; though this view is not, perhaps, entirely free from difficulty. Where a parent, or other person in loco parentis, bequeaths a legacy to a child or grandcMld, and afterward, in Ms lifetime, gives a portion, or makes a provision for the same child or grandcMld, without expressing it to be in lieu of the legacy, if the portion so received, or the provision made, be equal to, or exceed the amount of the legacy; if it be certain and not merely contingent; if no other distinct object be pointed out; and if it be ejusdem generis; then it will be deemed an ademption of the legacy. The ground of tMs doctrine seems to be, that every such legacy is to be presumed as intended by the testator to be a portion for the child or grandchild, whether so called or not; and that, if he afterward advances the same sum upon the child’s marriage, or any other occasion, he does it to accomplish his original object, as a portion; and that under such circumstances, it ought to be deemed an intended satisfaction or ademption of the legacy, rather than an intended double portion. 2 Story Eq., §§ 1111-1112. Vide, also, Langdon v. Astor's Ex'rs, 16 N. Y. 9. The difficulty in the application of this doctrine to the present case, is, that the [159]*159money bequeathed, and the land advanced, are not, in the language of the books, ejusdem generis. But this, in view of the whole case, we regard as unimportant. The money bequeathed was to be raised by a sale of the lands of the testatrix. The advancement of the land itself, or a portion of it, may be regarded as substantially accomplishing the same object. Or the land, at the estimated value, may be regarded as having been received as so much money.

What we have said has reference to the general legacies of $300 to Cynthia and Olinda. We are of opinion that these legacies were correctly found to have been adeemed. But in respect to the residuary legacies, a very different question is presented. The doctrine of presumed or constructive ademption is not applicable to them. “It does not apply to the case of a devisee of a'mere residue; for it has been said that a residue is always changing. It may amount to something, or be nothing; and therefore no fair presumption can arise of its being an intended satisfaction, or ademption.” 2 Story’s Equity, § 1115.

There being no presumption that a subsequent advancement was intended as an ademption of the residuary legacies, the question arises whether parol evidence is admissible to show that such was the intent of the testatrix, and thereby defeat the terms of the will. This leads us to inquire into the principle upon which parol evidence is admissible, in respect to general legacies. If a testator bequeath his son a thous- and dollars, and afterward, in his lifetime, advance him the same sum, the law presumes that he intended the advancement as an ademption of the legacy; but as this is only a presumption, parol evidence is admissible to repel it, and show that the sum advanced was intended to be cumulative; and when such evidence is given, it may be met, and the presumption strengthened, by the same kind of evidence. No case has been cited, and we know of none, where parol evidence has been received to show that advancements were intended to operate as an ademption of a residuary legacy. On the contrary, the case of Freemantle v. Bankes, 5 Vesey, 79, is directly against it.

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Bluebook (online)
17 Ind. 155, 1861 Ind. LEXIS 335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clendening-v-clymer-ind-1861.