Kelly v. Dyer

194 N.E. 255, 359 Ill. 46
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 20, 1934
DocketNo. 22652. Reversed and remanded.
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 194 N.E. 255 (Kelly v. Dyer) 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
Kelly v. Dyer, 194 N.E. 255, 359 Ill. 46 (Ill. 1934).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Farthing

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a decree rendered by the circuit court of Peoria county. Sarah P. Livingston, a resident of California, died testate on May 25, 1923. Frank Bryson was appointed administrator with the will annexed by the superior court of Los Angeles county in that State, and Bernard Kelly later was appointed by the probate court of Peoria county administrator with the will annexed in the ancillary administration of her estate in Illinois. They filed their bill in chancery in the circuit court of Peoria county and asked that the will be construed and that a trustee be named to exercise the power of sale contained in the second clause of the will. The executor named, the Rev. D. D. Odell, had pre-deceased the testatrix. The material parts of the will are:

“First — Subject to the payment of my funeral expenses and indebtedness, I give, devise and bequeath to each of the corporations hereinafter named to-wit: The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, a corporation, of the State of New York, and to The American Baptist Missionary Union, also a corporation, and to their successors and assigns forever, an undivided one-half of all the estate, real, personal or mixed of which I may die seized or possessed, or to which I am now or may at any time hereafter in any manner become entitled. The same to be used by said corporations respectively for the sole purpose of sending missionaries to teach or preach the gospel to the heathen in heathen lands.

“Second — I order and direct my executor hereinafter named, to sell at public or private sale at such time or times and upon such terms as he may deem for the best interest of my estate, any or all my real or personal estate and expressly authorize and empower him to make, execute, acknowledge and deliver any and all deeds of conveyance or assignment that may be necessary to pass the title to the real or personal estate by him sold. And I further direct that all proceeds of such sales and all moneys that may be, or become due and owing to me or my estate, be collected and paid over by my said executor without unnecessary delay, and I further authorize and empower my said executor to compromise, adjust, settle, release and discharge, as in his judgment he may deem proper and for the best interest of my estate, any and all debts, claims or demands whatsoever that may be or become due or owing to me or my estate.

“Third — I hereby appoint the Rev. D. D. Odell, at present pastor of the First Baptist Church of Peoria, Illinois, sole executor of this my last will and testament.”

The will was admitted to probate and entered of record in Los Angeles county, California, June 17, 1924. An authenticated copy was presented to the probate court of Peoria county, and on December 16, 1925, the will tvas admitted to record there. The time has passed in both States for filing a suit to contest the will. The Illinois administrator filed an inventory of the real estate in question on December 22, 1925. The deceased had no other property whatever in this State. An adjustment day was fixed in accordance with the statute, but no claims were ever filed against the estate in Illinois and the time for filing claims has long since passed.

Sarah P. Livingston left as her only heirs-at-law, Isaac Walton Dyer, Mary D. Markham and Katie Porter, who were also named as defendants in the bill. The appellants the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, both of which are New York corporations, are the only persons who may take under the will. The American Baptist Foreign Mission Society is the successor to the American Baptist Missionary Union.

Although he was the domiciliary administrator, Bryson collected rent from the Illinois real estate from September 1, 1923, to August 1, 1930, in the amount of $16,750. From and after July 1, 1930, the tenants of one piece of real estate, and from and after September 1, 1930, the tenants of the other tract, deposited their rent for the respective premises in two banks in Peoria, to abide the outcome of this suit. Out of the rents collected Bryson paid taxes on the Illinois real estate amounting to $522.28, an administrator’s fee of $400 to Bernard Kelly, a fee of $1500 to Kelly’s attorney, $52.88 court costs, and $7470.65 inheritance tax to this State.

The bill of complaint was filed July 19, 1930. It was amended on February 16, 1931. The answer was filed April 23, 1931, and it was amended June 8, 1933. The cause was referred to the master in chancery on May 2, 1931. On March 15, 1932, the University of Southern California was permitted to file an intervening petition. The appellants’ demurrer to the petition was overruled. The university had filed a claim against the estate in the California court. Its claim was based upon a subscription note for $200,000 signed by the testatrix and payable one day after her death. The allowance of this claim was affirmed by the Supreme Court of California in the sum of $240,250.20, on which Bryson has paid $125,000. During the litigation in the California courts the appellants entered into a written agreement by which they promised to pay certain sums as attorneys’ fees, etc., and by their amendment to their bill of complaint the appellees alleged that the appellants were estopped to dispute the validity of the claim in this suit. Neither the master nor the chancellor found that such estoppel was created by this agreement. There is no cross-appeal, and the question is therefore not before us.

Ancillary administrations of this estate have been or are being conducted in the States of North Dakota, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The estate’s net assets in all six States are insufficient to pay the claims which have been allowed in the domiciliary administration.

By the amendment to their joint and several answer the appellants, the two missionary societies named as devisees in the will, stated that they had elected to accept and retain the Illinois real estate devised to them without having it sold and converted into money. This real estate is of the value of $54,533-32.

The chancellor found that by the first clause of the will, subject to the payment of funeral expenses and her debts, the testatrix devised to each of the appellant corporations an undivided one-half of all her estate, real, personal or mixed, and that by the second clause of her will she directed her executor, Rev. D. D. Odell, to sell all her real estate and personal property and to divide the proceeds, share and share alike, between the appellants after payment of her indebtedness and funeral expenses. The chancellor then found that these two clauses of the will are inconsistent; that by the second clause a positive direction is made to convert all of the assets of the estate into cash, and that, since this was the later provision, it controlled. He also found that an equitable conversion of her real estate was made by the testatrix, and, in effect, that the gifts to the appellants were of money rather than of real estate. He found, also, that they acquired no title to her real estate and no right to the rents accruing between the date of her death and the date when final distribution is to be made and the claims allowed in the various States are paid.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Estate of Britt
445 N.E.2d 367 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1983)
Britt v. American National Bank & Trust Co.
445 N.E.2d 367 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1983)
Griffin v. Gould
391 N.E.2d 124 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1979)
In Re Estate of Ruebush
202 N.E.2d 344 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1964)
Shelby County State Bank of Shelbyville v. Aichele
125 N.E.2d 154 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1955)
Rehbein v. Norene
118 N.E.2d 287 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1954)
Felts v. Brown
81 N.E.2d 658 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1948)
Kell v. Deschauer
45 N.E.2d 495 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1942)
In Re Estate of Hencke
4 N.W.2d 353 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1942)
Forster v. First & American National Bank
4 N.W.2d 353 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1942)
O'Connell v. United States
37 F. Supp. 832 (E.D. Illinois, 1941)
Chandler v. Illinois National Bank & Trust Co.
8 N.E.2d 705 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1937)
Hershe v. Estate of Rinkenberger
3 N.E.2d 953 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
194 N.E. 255, 359 Ill. 46, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kelly-v-dyer-ill-1934.