In Re Estate of Snyder

357 P.2d 778, 187 Kan. 373, 97 A.L.R. 2d 1314, 1960 Kan. LEXIS 443
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedDecember 10, 1960
Docket41,673
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 357 P.2d 778 (In Re Estate of Snyder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas 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 Snyder, 357 P.2d 778, 187 Kan. 373, 97 A.L.R. 2d 1314, 1960 Kan. LEXIS 443 (kan 1960).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Robb, J.:

This is an appeal from the trial court’s order denying homestead and statutory allowances to the estate of decedent’s surviving widow and holding that by her consent to decedent’s will, she waived her rights to both the homestead exemption and statutory allowances.

Two former appeals concerning decedent’s estate have been before this court (In re Estate of Snyder, 179 Kan. 252, 294 P. 2d 197, and In re Estate of Snyder, 181 Kan. 222, 310 P. 2d 944) but nothing in either of them affects the case presently before us.

At the outset, it should be noted that both the homestead exemption right (Kan. Const., Art. 15, §9, and G. S. 1949, 59-401) and the statutory allowances to the surviving spouse and minor children (G. S. 1949, 59-403) were originally involved in the case before the trial court but it was there agreed the homestead feature had become moot and was no longer an issue by reason of the subsequent death of the surviving widow, and the trial court so ruled. Thus we are determining here only the question whether under this particular decedent’s will and the surviving widow’s consent thereto (G. -S. 1949, 59-404), tire widow waived her right to statutory allowances. (G. S. 1949, 59-403.)

In brief, 59-403 provides that the surviving spouse shall be allowed, for the benefit of such spouse and decedent’s minor children during their minority, from decedent’s personal property, the following: Wearing apparel, family library, pictures, musical instruments, furniture and household goods, utensils and implements used in the home, one automobile, and provisions and fuel on hand necessary for their support for one year together with the sum of seven hundred fifty dollars or other personal property at its appraised value in full or part payment thereof, and 59-404 provides that the surviving spouse, by consenting to the will of the decedent, does not waive the right to such allowances,

“. . . unless it clearly appears from the will that the provision therein made for such spouse was intended to be in lieu of such rights.”

[375]*375See, also, 1 Bartlett’s Kansas Probate Law and Practice, rev. ed., §§ 242-245, and in particular the following statements contained in § 245:

“. . . A device or bequest of other property to the spouse, in itself, is no indication that the gift is intended to be in lieu of the statutory allowances. . . . The intention of the testator that the provisions of the will are to be in lieu of the statutory allowances may be expressly declared or necessarily implied from the contents of the will. Whether such intention is expressed or necessarily implied is a question of testamentary construction and governed by the rules pertaining to that subject.
“The words of the code section was intended to be in lieu of such rights’ mean intended by the testator, to be determined by the language used in the will. . . .” (pp. 303, 304.) (Our emphasis.)

In 4 Bartlett’s Kansas Probate Law and Practice, rev. ed., § 1816, 47, a model provision is found which leaves no doubt or uncertainty that other provisions of a will are in lieu of statutory rights:

“(1) I hereby declare that the provisions herein made for my wife,-, are made in lieu of homestead rights, statutory allowances, and other rights secured by statute.” (p. 14.)

While we have no such explicit provision as the above in this decedent’s will, in order to determine what decedent intended to do, or did do, the pertinent portions thereof are here set out:

“Second: ... I further direct that neither of said Executors be required to furnish bond; that they shall have the power and right to sell all or any part of my property whether, real, personal or mixed, at public sale or private sale and on such terms and for such prices as they deem best in their judgment, and all without interference or intervention of the Probate Court in which this will is probated.
“Fourth: I give and bequeath, share and share alike, to my three beloved sons, to-wit: Elmore W. Snyder II; James N. Snyder and Charles E. Snyder, Junior, all my household silver, including plate, flat and dinner services; also all my china and chinaware, to be theirs absolutely.
“Sixth: I hereby give, devise and bequeath, fifty per cent of all the rest, residue and remainder of my property, real, personal or mixed, to my beloved wife, Isabelle H. Snyder, to be hers absolutely. The remaining fifty per cent of said rest, residue and remainder I hereby give, devise and bequeath, share and share alike, to my three beloved sons, to-wit: Elmore W. Snyder II; James N. Snyder and Charles E. Snyder, Junior, to be theirs absolutely.”

The written consent by the spouse executed in the presence of two or more witnesses, as provided by G. S. 1949, 59-602, reads as follows:

[376]*376“I, Isabelle H. Snyder, wife of Charles E. Snyder, who signed, declared, and published the foregoing instrument as his last will and testament, do hereby declare that I have read the same and understand the provisions therein contained and the rights secured to me by statute; and I hereby consent to the said will and accept the provisions therein made for me in lieu of the rights secured me by statute.”

The consent and the pertinent provisions of the will must be construed together.

Under the third provision of the will considered in In re Estate of Fawcett, 163 Kan. 448, 183 P. 2d 403, the testator gave his surviving spouse “all the household goods, furniture and equipment which may be owned by me and in my house at the time of my death.” The surviving spouse, in the presence of subscribing witnesses, signed a consent to the provisions contained in the will for her benefit and expressly consented that the testator might bequeath away from her more than one half of his property and in holding she thereby elected to take under the will, this court said:

“Does it clearly appear from the will that the provisions made for the widow were to be in lieu of the rights she had to . . . the statutory allowances? As far as the statutory allowances are concerned the question is easily answered in the affirmative since the statute gives her the furniture and household goods, utensils and implements used in the home and one automobile, together with $750 in cash; while testator gave his widow by the will all the household goods, furniture and equipment owned by him and in his house at the time of his death. Outside of the $750 she received by the will just about what the statute gave her.” (p. 452.)

The right of a widow to statutory allowances out of her deceased husband’s estate was part of the question in In re Estate of Place, 166 Kan. 528, 203 P. 2d 132. That opinion contains a full discussion of antenuptial and postnuptial contracts and their effect on the matters there involved including statutory allowances and is cited here for whatever light the following excerpt may shed in our present case. After a discussion of the appropriate statutes, the opinion, in holding there had been no waiver of the widow’s right to a statutory allowance, used this language:

“Consideration of the will of W. S. Place shows that Etta Place did not consent in writing to its terms.

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Related

In Re Estate of Morrison
371 P.2d 171 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1962)
Brunt v. Snyder
362 P.2d 651 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1961)
In Re Estate of Snyder
360 P.2d 883 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1961)

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Bluebook (online)
357 P.2d 778, 187 Kan. 373, 97 A.L.R. 2d 1314, 1960 Kan. LEXIS 443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-snyder-kan-1960.