In re Estate of Jones

2 Coffey 178
CourtSuperior Court of California, County of San Francisco
DecidedDecember 29, 1904
StatusPublished

This text of 2 Coffey 178 (In re Estate of Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco 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 Jones, 2 Coffey 178 (Cal. Super. Ct. 1904).

Opinion

COFFEY, J.

Winfield S. Jones died leaving two wills. • The first will was dated July 15, 1896. The codicil added thereto was dated October 7, 1899. The second will was dated August 31, 1901. These three testamentary instruments were admitted to probate as the last will of the deceased: Civ. Code, sec. 1320.

By the first instrument there is bequeathed to S. L. Abbot the third, the sum of one hundred (100) dollars; to W. Brooks Jones, a nephew of deceased, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars; and to T. Skelton Jones, an uncle, the sum of five thousand (5,000) dollars. In addition, there are bequests to other persons. Executors are appointed, and the [180]*180residue of the estate is devised and bequeathed to Mary Jones and Virginia B. Jones, the testator’s surviving sisters, thus disposing of his entire estate.

By the codicil the sum of one thousand (1,000) dollars is bequeathed to the rector, wardens and vestry of Grace church.

The second will which, in effect, likewise disposes of the entire estate of the testator, ends with the words “This is my last will.” It contains bequests to a number of persons, including the persons aforementioned, namely, S. L. Abbot the third, W. Brooks Jones, and T. Skelton Jones, to each of whom there is bequeathed the sums respectively bequeathed to them by the first will; the remainder is given and devised to charities. No executors are appointd in this will.

The estate of the deceased consisted of real and personal property situate in California, aggregating in value a sum in excess of one hundred thousand (100,000) dollars. Also real property situate in Washington, D. C., and an interest in the family farm situate in Fairfax county, Virginia, which are specifically devised by the second will to the testator’s sisters. These properties have never formed part of the estate within the jurisdiction of this court, and were not inventoried and appraised.

The bequests to charities, by the residuary clause of the second will, collectively exceed one-third of the estate.

The questions of law involved and presented to the court for consideration are as follows:

First. Are the bequests to S. L. Abbot the third of one hundred (100) dollars, to W. Brooks Jones of five thousand (5.000) dollars, and to T. Skelton Jones of five thousand (5.000) dollars, accumulative or substitutional? It is contended by the sisters of the deceased that they are substitutional; the assignee of W. Brooks Jones claims that they are cumulative.
Second. Are the charities entitled to one-third of the property situate in Washington and Virginia, and if so, is that third to be paid them out of California assets ? The charities contend that they are entitled to one-third of the assets of the estate wherever situate, payable out of the California estate. The sisters oppose this contention.
[181]*181Third. Are the sisters of deceased entitled to the residue of the estate under the residuary clause of the first will, exclusive of the next of kin or heirs of the testator? The sisters claim that they are. The assignee of W. Brooks Jones is opposed to this view.

These questions will be dealt with in their order.

First, therefore, let us consider whether the bequests to S. L. Abbot the third, W. Brooks Jones and T. Skelton Jones in the second will are substitutional or accumulative.

It is a well-known rule of law that if two legacies are given to the same person, and the intent is that the legatee shall have both, the legacies are said to be cumulative; if the latter is only a repetition of the former, it is said to be substitutional. In ascertaining the intent, the following rules of construction have been adopted:

1. If the same specific thing is bequeathed twice to the same legatee in the same will or in the will and again in the codicil, the legatee can claim the benefit of only one legacy, because the same identical thing can only be given once.
2. Legacies of quantity bequeathed by one and the same instrument, if of unequal amounts, are cumulative; if equal, the second is considered a repetition or substitution of the first, and the legatee is entitled to one only.
3. Legacies of quantity, given by different testamentary instruments, as by will and codicil, to the same person, are prima facie cumulative, whether of equal or unequal amounts, unless the amounts are the same and expressed to be given with the same motive, or it appears from intrinsic evidence that the second instrument was intended as a mere substitution for the first. If either of these latter circumstances occurs, the second legacy is substitutional: See 13 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, p. 54 et seq.

It is only necessary for the present to consider the third of these rules.

It appears intrinsically from the instruments themselves that the bequests in the second will to the persons aforesaid are substitutional; the very language contained in the second will is conclusive upon that point. The second will ends with the words “This is my last will.” What more forcible mode of expression could the testator, have employed to indicate [182]*182that the legacies to S. L. Abbot the third, W. Brooks Jones and T. Skelton Jones contained in the second will were to be a substitution for the legacies to them of the same amounts, respectively, contained in the first will?

And thus the courts have held that the form of the instrument by which the second legacy is given may show that it was intended to be substitutional. Such is the ease where the two legacies are given by different instruments and the latter instrument is not a codicil but is described as a last will and testament, or is such in effect.

In the case of Attorney General v. Harley, 4 Madd. (Eng. Ch.), 267 (decided May 17, 1819), the vice-chancellor said: “If the legacies to Mrs. Harley were alone to be considered, she would be plainly entitled to both; but the question here is ivhether the instrument does not afford internal evidence that it was meant by the testatrix, not as an addition to the first instrument but as a substitution for it. It begins with all the forms of the first instrument, with the same expressions of religious resignation, nearly in the same words. It then proceeds to appoint Martha Harley her sole executrix, by the same description as in the first instrument; and it then proceeds to give, with little variation, the same legacies to the same persons who were the objects of her bounty by the first instrument. I think the inference irresistible that the textatrix intended the third instrument as a substitution for the first; and that Mrs. Harley must therefore take the unconditional legacy of 1,000£ given by the third instrument, in the place of the conditional legacy given by the first instrument. ’ ’

In the case of Hemming v. Gurrey, decided May 5, 1825, 2 Sim. & S. 212, at page 222, it is said: “With respect to the plaintiff’s claim of two annuities of 500£ each, under the two testamentary papers of G. Hemming, I am of opinion that the second instrument was not made as an addition to, but as a substitution for, the first if not wholly, at least in the greater part and plainly as to the annuities in question.

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Bluebook (online)
2 Coffey 178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-jones-calsuppctsf-1904.