In Re Estate of Bullock

Supreme Court of North Carolina

In Re Estate of Bullock

141 S.E. 577, 195 N.C. 188, 1928 N.C. LEXIS 44

CourtSupreme Court of North Carolina

DecidedFebruary 22, 1928

StatusPublished

Cited by2 cases

This text of 141 S.E. 577 (In Re Estate of Bullock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

In Re Estate of Bullock, 141 S.E. 577, 195 N.C. 188, 1928 N.C. LEXIS 44 (N.C. 1928).

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Opinion

*189 Stacy, C. J.

Can an illegitimate child legally represent its deceased mother, under C. S., 140 and C. S., 137, clauses 4 and 5, and thus share in the distribution of its mother’s father’s estate? "We think not. Such was the holding in Waggoner v. Miller, 26 N. C., 480 (June Term, 1844), and there has been no sufficient change in the statute law since that time to warrant a reversal of this decision.

True, it is provided by C. S., 140, that every illegitimate child of a mother dying intestate shall be considered among her next of kin, and as such "'shall be entitled to share in her personal estate; and, further, that illegitimate children,-born of the same mother, shall be considered legitimate as among themselves, but this is as far as the statute goes. Had the mother of petitioner survived her father, and thus acquired a vested interest in his estate, there would have been no difficulty. But the mother, having predeceased the intestate, never became'the owner of any part of his estate, hence, under the law, as now written, the illegitimate child is not entitled to share in the property in question. See Wilson v. Wilson, 189 N. C., 85, 126 S. E., 181; Wallace v. Wallace, 181 N. C., 158, 106 S. E., 501; In re Mericlo, 63 N. Y., Practice Reports, 62.

The case of Skinner v. Wynne, 55 N. C., 41, cited by appellant, is not in point, as the children there in question were legitimate and took from their grandfather “in their own right.”

Affirmed.

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*189 Stacy, C. J.

Can an illegitimate child legally represent its deceased mother, under C. S., 140 and C. S., 137, clauses 4 and 5, and thus share in the distribution of its mother’s father’s estate? "We think not. Such was the holding in Waggoner v. Miller, 26 N. C., 480 (June Term, 1844), and there has been no sufficient change in the statute law since that time to warrant a reversal of this decision.

True, it is provided by C. S., 140, that every illegitimate child of a mother dying intestate shall be considered among her next of kin, and as such "'shall be entitled to share in her personal estate; and, further, that illegitimate children,-born of the same mother, shall be considered legitimate as among themselves, but this is as far as the statute goes. Had the mother of petitioner survived her father, and thus acquired a vested interest in his estate, there would have been no difficulty. But the mother, having predeceased the intestate, never became'the owner of any part of his estate, hence, under the law, as now written, the illegitimate child is not entitled to share in the property in question. See Wilson v. Wilson, 189 N. C., 85, 126 S. E., 181; Wallace v. Wallace, 181 N. C., 158, 106 S. E., 501; In re Mericlo, 63 N. Y., Practice Reports, 62.

The case of Skinner v. Wynne, 55 N. C., 41, cited by appellant, is not in point, as the children there in question were legitimate and took from their grandfather “in their own right.”

Affirmed.

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141 S.E. 577, 195 N.C. 188, 1928 N.C. LEXIS 44, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-bullock-nc-1928.

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