In re the Will of Stern

189 Misc. 639, 56 N.Y.S.2d 631, 1945 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2082
CourtNew York Surrogate's Court
DecidedJune 22, 1945
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 189 Misc. 639 (In re the Will of Stern) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Surrogate's Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Will of Stern, 189 Misc. 639, 56 N.Y.S.2d 631, 1945 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2082 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1945).

Opinion

Delehanty, S.

Deceased while single made a will under which his mother was his sole beneficiary. . Thereafter he married. Sometime later he talked with a college mate, a lawyer, about making a new will. Eventually the latter drew a will substituting the name of deceased’s wife as beneficiary instead of his mother. The draftsman reports that deceased at the time of the discussion of the new will said that his wife was pregnant and ,that he expected her to give birth to a child in the fall. The lawyer friend suggested some reference to children in the will but deceased said he did not want any fancy wills ” and did not want to be charged for his friend’s service. He said: All I want you to do is make a new will which will be a duplicate of this will, except put in Eleanor’s name where my mother’s name appeared.” The draftsman also quotes deceased as saying: “ If I do have a child I will get some bonds for the child, but I want my property to go to Eleanor. She is the mother and she is fully capable of taking care of both herself and the child.” Eleanor is deceased’s wife. After this discussion the new will was drawn and executed on February 15, 1943. The child was horn October 1,1943. At that time a war bond drive was under [642]*642way. Deceased bought in the sole name of his child a so-called E Bond in the face amount of $1,000 at one bank and on the same do}r bought two $100 bonds of the same issue making them payable to the child but alternatively to himself upon her death. The second purchase was made at a bank other than that which sold the first bond to deceased. There is no other evidence of the circumstances attending either purchase nor any evidence respecting deceased’s handling of the bonds except that they were still uncashed when he died on February 7,1944. The bonds cost a total of $900. They were worth no more when deceased died. The estate of deceased is reported to have a gross value of slightly over $37,000. Since his death occurred within four months of the bond purchases it is reasonable to assume that his resources were approximately $38,000 at the time of the purchases. The filed account indicates that deceased owed no debts except his current income tax and rent obligations and a balance in a brokerage account amply secured by collateral. Concededly the will neither provides for nor in any way mentions the child. Concededly, too, no settlement was made on the child unless it be found to have been made by reason of the bond purchases already mentioned.

The special guardian contends that the child was not provided for by any settlement and hence is entitled to a share of the estate in intestacy. He objected to the proof of deceased’s comments to his lawyer friend already quoted and objected to proof of statements made by deceased to his mother-in-law after the child was born. The mother-in-law quotes deceased thus: He showed that be bought bonds for the baby. He wanted to buy bonds for baby * * * . Yes, he talked about them because it was the conversation he wanted at first an insurance for the baby and then he told me that he bought bonds and showed me especially the $1,000 bond because I never saw that one before.”

The rights of the infant depend on the terms of section 26 of Decedent Estate Law. This section is derived from section 49 of article third of title I of chapter VI of part II of the Revised Statutes of 1830 as such section was amended by chapter 22 of the Laws of 1869. The text of chapter 22 of the Laws of 1869 is precisely the same in words and punctuation as section 26 of Decedent Estate Law, with the single exception that the word “ lifetime ” in the existing statutory text is printed as “ lifetime ” in the text of 1869. The text of section 49 of the stated article in the Revised Statutes is phrased thus: Whenever a testator shall have a child born after the making of Ms will, either in his life-time or after his death, and shall die, leaving [643]*643such child, so after born, unprovided for by any settlement, and neither provided for, nor in any way mentioned in his will, every such child shall succeed to the same portion of the father’s real and personal estate, as would have descended or been distributed to such child, if the father had died intestate, and shall be entitled to recover the same portion from the devises and legatees, in proportion to, and out of the parts devised and bequeathed to them, by such will. ’ ’

It is to be noted that the 1830 text related only to a father’s will. Such limitation was consistent with section 44 of the same article and with section 1 of article first of the same title and chapter of the Revised Statutes, which provided that the will of an unmarried woman was revoked by her subsequent marriage and that a married woman could not make a will. Between the effective date of the Revised Statutes in 1830 and the date of enactment of chapter 22 of the Laws of 1869 the privilege of making a will had been granted to married women (L. 1867, ch. 782) and it became appropriate to extend the rule respecting partial revocation to the will of a mother. For this reason the text of the statute of 1869 refers to “parent”. Except in this respect the extant text of section 26 of Decedent Estate Law is the handiwork of the revisers and their views respecting its meaning are of majoi; importance.

The notes of the revisers (Report to Senate, Nov. 2, 1827) show that in their plan for revision of the statutes they had specifically in mind in respect of revocations of wills a line of judicial decisions which, they said, created “ a fruitful source of difficulty and expensive litigation ”. Referring to the case-made law on implied revocations they said: “ It abounds with arbitrary rules and settled refinements, the existence of which none but lawyers would be at all likely to suspect, and which are constantly applied, not to carry into effect, but to defeat the intention of testators. That such is the actual state of the law, has been acknowledged and lamented by the most eminent judges. ’ ’ With the case law in mind the revisers said:

“ After this statement of the existing law, that some alterations are not merely desirable, but necessary, the Revisers believe, will be generally admitted. That the provisions suggested by them will meet all the difficulties of a very complicated subject, they dare not flatter themselves; but they affirm with confidence, that if adopted, these provisions will close many sources of expensive and protracted litigation; and that in numerous cases, they will prevent the manifest intentions of testators from being frustrated, by the application of rules apparently [644]*644revolting to common sense, and unintelligible to all not versed in the mysteries of feudal learning. The principle which has guided the Revisers in the alterations which they propose, is, that where a change has occurred in the domestic relations of a testator; where new objects, having peculiar and natural claims to his bounty, have come into existence, it is a presumption justified by reason and experience, that his will is intended to be revoked; but that where no such event has occurred, it is equally reasonable to believe, that a will not expressly and plainly revoked, is meant to have effect.
In conclusion, the Revisers avow their conviction, that a valuable service will be rendered the community, if those cases in which, alone, implied revocation may be allowed, shall be defined by legislative authority.

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Bluebook (online)
189 Misc. 639, 56 N.Y.S.2d 631, 1945 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2082, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-will-of-stern-nysurct-1945.