Duke's heirs v. Duke's devisees

81 Ky. 308, 1883 Ky. LEXIS 66
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedOctober 9, 1883
StatusPublished

This text of 81 Ky. 308 (Duke's heirs v. Duke's devisees) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Duke's heirs v. Duke's devisees, 81 Ky. 308, 1883 Ky. LEXIS 66 (Ky. Ct. App. 1883).

Opinion

JUDGE HINES

delivered the opinion of ti-ie court, and after-wards THE FOLLOWING! MODIFIED OPINION.

This is an appeal from the judgment of the circuit court, directing the probate of the will of Mrs. Duke as to certain [309]*309real and personal estate, and rejecting it as to other estate owned by her, and which she had attempted, in the will, to ■dispose of. There is also a cross-appeal, on which it is insisted that the court erred in rejecting any portion of the will.

Mrs. Duke was married twice, her first husband being Robert S. Price, and her second, Duke. She died leaving no children by either husband. This contest is between the devisees, under the will of Mrs. Duke, and her heirs, and involves an inquiry as to whether, by certain conveyances, Mrs. Duke held a separate estate in the property ■embraced in the conveyance; and secondly, whether a ■decree, obtained during her coverture with Price, authorizing her to trade as a feme sole, and to dispose of her property by deed or will, operated to continue her power of disposition beyond the lifetime of Price.

The provisions of the Revised Statutes, which were in force at the time of the making of the will by Mrs. Duke, and which apply to this case, are as follows:

Section 27, article 4, chapter 47: “If real or personal estate be hereafter conveyed or devised for the separate use of a married woman, or for that of an unmarried woman, to the exclusion of any husband she may thereafter have, she shall not alienate such estate with or without the consent of any husband she may have; but may do so when it is a gift, by the consent of the donor or his personal representative.
“Such estates, heretofore created, shall not be sold or encumbered but by order of a court of equity, and only for the purpose of exchange and reinvestment, for the same use as that of the original conveyance or devise, and the [310]*310court shall see that the exchange or reinvestment is properly made. ”
Chapter 106, section 4: “A married woman may, by will, dispose of any estate secured to her separate use by deed or devise, or in the exercise of a special power to that effect.”

The first conveyance we will consider is that from George Riley, the father of Mrs. Price, to R. S. Price, in trust for Mrs. Price, the material portion of which is as follows:

‘ ‘ The said George Riley conveys all the said land to said Robert Price, as trustee for the said Prudence and her heirs, and the said Robert Price being entitled to his lifetime in said land; but it is fully understood the said land is not to be held in no way bound for any debts or contracts of said trustee, and said land is not to be sold, only for the said proceeds to be paid over to the said Prudence and her heirs, and applied to the purchase of other lands, will be bound for as the above, the title to the said Prudence and her heirs, and the said George Riley warrants, and forever defends, the title of said land to the said Robert Price, trustee, from all persons claiming under him.”

The provisions of the statute quoted do not alter the nature or character of separate estate. The character of the estate is to be determined as it was determined prior to’ the adoption of the statutes, the only effect of the statute being to regulate the manner of its use and the method of its alienation. Under those statutes, considered in connection with other provisions of the same revision, a feme covert may bind her general estate for necessaries for herself and family when the contract is evidenced by writing, signed by herself and husband, but she cannot will it ; while her separate estate cannot be.bound or subjected in any way, except [311]*311in the exercise of a special power for any contract made by her, but it may be willed.

In order to create a separate estate at common law, or under the statute, the language of the deed or devise must clearly manifest an intention to place the property beyond the use or control of the husband, or any one else. No-specific words are necessary to the creation of such an estate, but the intention to accomplish the object indicated must be manifest in the writing. It is also a question of intention, where the conveyance or devise is made during coverture, as to whether the restriction on the character of the estate is to continue beyond the coverture then existing. A separate estate may be created when the donee is dis-covert, to take effect in the event of a future marriage. It may be made to extend to a particular coverture, or to any number of covertures, and that without regard to whether the instrument under which the estate is held was executed before or during coverture. It is always a question of intention with the conveyor or devisor. Under this rule it is manifest that the deed of trust does not create a separate estate in Mrs. Price even during the lifetime of her then husband, because it did not create an estate in the wife which was exclusive of all other persons. It gave to the husband a life-estate unqualifiedly, to which he would not have been entitled except in case there had been children of the marriage. But, in addition to this, there is nothing in the deed to indicate an intention to exclude any future husband from his marital rights, and, therefore, as against any future husband, the deed does not create a separate estate, or, in other words, the separate estate, if created, which we think is not the case, existed only during the life of the first husband.

[312]*312The other deed under which it is claimed that Mrs. Price, subsequently Mrs. Duke, was entitled to a separate estate, was executed by Price and wife to Anthony in trust for certain purposes, and the material provisions of it are as follows:

‘ ‘ Whereas, the said Prudence is anxious and determined to secure the benefit of said land to the use and benefit of said husband, Robert S. Price, during the term of his life, and should he have children, then to himself and children, and in the event that she should survive him, then to her own separate use and benefit.”

It is clear that under this deed Robert S. Price held a life-estate, and that, in the event he had children by his then wife who should survive the wife, the estate should go to them, but that, in case the wife survived, a separate estate should remain in her. As we have already suggested, such an estate may be created, to take effect upon a future marriage, but, in the time intervening, the estate in the feme is absolute, and this applies as well when the estate is created during one coverture, but is not to take effect until its expiration, as when it is created in a feme sole. There can be no such thing as a separate estate which is operative in the absence of a conjugal tie. The sole idea of a separate estate is the exclusion of the husband’s control. An estate may be created in a woman, whether married or single, with the restraint of alienation, as could be done as to any one, and the terms upon which the estate is held by her need not be different; but when the estate created in the woman is a separate estate under the modern common law, as in this instance, the restraint upon alienation is to be determined by the character of the estate, because, as we have already said, the nature of the estate has not been changed, only the [313]*313method or manner of its alienation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 Ky. 308, 1883 Ky. LEXIS 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dukes-heirs-v-dukes-devisees-kyctapp-1883.