Dunn v. Kearney

123 N.E. 105, 288 Ill. 49
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1919
DocketNo. 12381
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 123 N.E. 105 (Dunn v. Kearney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dunn v. Kearney, 123 N.E. 105, 288 Ill. 49 (Ill. 1919).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Stone

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a decree of the circuit court of Jo Daviess county sustaining the bill of appellees for partition. The questions presented to this court involve the construction of the last will and testament of Hamilton Kearney, deceased, and a codicil thereto.

The will in question was executed December 31, 1898. The portions of the will necessary to a decision of this case are as follows:

“Second—I give, devise and bequeath to my brother. John Kearney all of my real estate, to have and to hold the same to him and his heirs forever.

“Third—I give, devise and bequeath to my dear friend Mrs. Jane Mosely the sum of $1000 and my old gray mare, buggy and harness; also, if she remains with me until my death, I give, devise and bequeath to her all my household goods of every description, including all articles in the cellar, but she shall not have power to sell the same but may give them away if she feels so disposed, but it is my express wish that they be not sold.

“Fourth—I give, devise and bequeath to my friend Mrs. Daisy Matthews the sum of $500.

“Fifth—I give, devise and bequeath to the widow of my brother David Kearney, Mrs. Rebecca Kearney, the sum of $500.

“Sixth—It is my will that my executor shall sell and convert into money all the grain and live stock remaining in my possession at the time of my death, and the proceeds of the same, together with the residue of my estate after the payment of the legacies and bequests heretofore set forth, shall be divided equally among my nephews and nieces who are living at the time of my death, and William Hamilton Bertsch, who is the only relative bearing my name and the son of my niece, Mrs. Emma Bertsch. The names of my nephews and nieces, the children of my brothers John and David, and • my sister, Mrs. Ann McKinley, are- Mrs. Mary Knapp, William Kearney, son of David Kearney, Howard Kearney, John Kearney, Mrs. Ruth Schaible, Sarah Kearney, and Bessie Kearney, William Kearney, son of my brother John Kearney, Mrs. Margaret Dunn, Anna Kearney, John McKinley, George McKinley, they each, together with my namesake, William Hamilton Bertsch, to take share and share alike in the residue of my estate as hereinbefore set forth.”

On June 29, 1912, Hamilton Kearney made the following codicil, to-wit:

“Whereas, I, Hamilton Kearney, did on the thirty-first day of December, 1898, make my will; and whereas in said will I did in clause 3 of my said will give, devise and bequeath to Mrs. Jane Mosely the sum of $1000 and other property, and also in clause 4 of my said will I bequeathed to Mrs. Daisy Matthews the sum of $500; and whereas in the dispensation of Providence my friend Mrs. Jane Mosely has departed this life, and by her last will and testament she has provided for her daughter, the said Mrs. Daisy Matthews above mentioned; therefore it is my will that the sums mentioned in clauses 3 and 4 of my will bequeathed to Mrs. Jane Mosely and Mrs. Daisy Matthews shall not be considered and are hereby canceled, and the sums mentioned therein shall be divided equally by my executor among my nephews and nieces mentioned in clause 6 of my will, and William Hamilton Bertsch, he taking an equal portion with each of them.”

William Kearney, son of David Kearney, one of the nephews named in the original will, died before the death of the testator.

Prior to 1886 Robert Kearney, Hamilton Kearney and John Kearney owned and occupied the land in question, consisting of 472 acres in JoDaviess county, as tenants in common. Robert and Hamilton Kearney were never married and lived with their brother John. Prior to his death, on February 24, 1886, Robert Kearney executed his last will and testament, in which he gave to Hamilton and John Kearney, his brothers, all his interest and share in said real estate. This will was duly probated and entered of record. After the death of Robert, his brothers, Hamilton and John, lived upon and farmed said premises as tenants in common until December 4, 1904, at which time John died intestate, leaving a widow and children surviving him. On June 29, 1912, William Kearney, son of John Kearney, and his mother, occupied the premises, and Plamilton Kearney made his home with them. Hamilton Kearney died in January, 1916, leaving personal estate aggregating $9666.15 and an undivided one-half interest in said 472 acres, which undivided one-half is the land in question. The complainants are the daughters of David Kearney, a brother of John, Robert and Hamilton, who died some twenty years prior to the death of Hamilton.

The decree of the circuit court found, as alleged in the complainants’ bill, that the devise contained in the second clause of the will lapsed and that the sixth clause of the will included the lapsed devise, so as to vest in each of the testator’s nephews and nieces an undivided one-seventeenth of testator’s undivided ■ half of said premises, and that a like share in said estate was vested in William Hamilton Bertsch, son of Emma Bertsch, a niece of the testator.

The seven children of Annie McKinley, deceased sister of Hamilton Kearney, who were made defendants below, entered their appearances in the circuit court and answered, admitting the allegations of the bill and that the relief pra)red for should be granted. They appear here urging that the decree of the circuit court be affirmed.

Appellants, who are the seven children of John Kearney, deceased, contend that under the will, as modified by the codicil, Hamilton Kearney devised his interest in said real estate to them, the heirs of John Kearney; that the testator, knowing that his brother John was dead when the codicil was executed, re-published the original will, and by clause 2 in effect devised all of his lands to the heirs of John Kearney, or that if said legacy lapsed, as charged in complainants’ bill, then said real estate descended as intestate property to the sixteen nieces and nephews to the exclusion of William Hamilton Bertsch, who is not an heir of Hamilton Kearney; that the sixth clause did not include real estate, and that final division under said sixth clause had been made by the executor and accepted by the legatees thereunder.

By the second clause of the will the testator gives and devises to his brother John Kearney all of his real estate, “to have and to hold the same to him and his heirs forever.” He by this clause devised a fee simple title to the lands in question to his brother John. The ordinary form of a conveyance of a fee at common law was to the grantee añd his heirs. (Winter v. Dibble, 251 Ill. 200.) It is contended by appellees that said second clause of the will is a devise within the rule in Shelley’s case. The rule as stated by Coke (vol. 1, 104a,) is, that “when the ancestor by any gift or conveyance takes an estate of freehold, and in the same gift or conveyance an estate is limited, either mediately or immediately, to his heirs in fee or in tail, that always in such cases ‘the heirs’ are words of limitation of the estate and not words of purchase.” The clause in question does not purport to devise to John Kearney a freehold estate with a limitation by way of remainder to his heirs, but said clause is a devise to John Kearney and his heirs, which is the proper mode for devising a fee simple.

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Bluebook (online)
123 N.E. 105, 288 Ill. 49, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunn-v-kearney-ill-1919.