Kern v. Kern

127 N.E. 396, 293 Ill. 238
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 21, 1920
DocketNo. 13217
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 127 N.E. 396 (Kern v. Kern) 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
Kern v. Kern, 127 N.E. 396, 293 Ill. 238 (Ill. 1920).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Carter

delivered the opinion of the court:

This'is a bill filed in the circuit court of Moultrie county for the partition of certain lands in that county owned at the time of his death by John A. Kern. The case involves the construction of Kern’s will and three codicils thereto, as affected by the renunciation filed by the testator’s widow. The circuit court entered a decree construing the will and finding the interests of the various owners and ordered a partition. Prom that decree certain of the testator’s children prayed an appeal to this court.'

John A. Kern died in 1918, leaving his widow, Laura B. Kern, him surviving, and seven children as his heirs-at-law. Vern, Edith and Helen Kern were his children by his widow, Laura, and O. J., John W. and Minnie M. Kern and Eunice Kern Brown were his children by a former wife. Kern at the time of his death owned a home in the village of Gays, Illinois, consisting of about six acres. He also owned the northeast quarter of a certain section 21 in said county, containing about 160 acres, and an undivided interest in the west half of the southeast quarter of a certain section 27 in said county. The balance of the west half of the southeast quarter was owned by his widow and children, and his interest in that 80-acre tract was an undivided interest, and bore such proportion to the 80-acre tract that it is referred to in the briefs and seems to have been considered by counsel for all parties as if he owned outright of the 80-acre tract 21.63 acres. The portions of the will and codicils pertinent to the questions here being considered are as follows, the punctuation and capitalization following that given in the abstract:

The original will, after providing for the payment of debts and funeral expenses, reads:

“Second:—After paying such funeral expenses and debts, I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Laura B. Kern, six acres in the Village of Gays, in Sec. 26, being my home place in said Village, together with all household goods, buggies, carriages, horses or other personal property being on said premises at the time of my decease, also thirty acres off the north side of the NEji of Sec. 21, Town 12 N., R. 6 East, to have and to hold during her widowhood and in case of her remarriage then it is to be divided equally between my children, Vern, Edith and Helen Kern. My wife is to draw the rents and profits on my land until the year 1916. All moneys I may have at my decease I give and bequeath to my wife, Laura B. Kern. The balance of my land in Sec. 21, T. 12 N., R. 6 and 24 acres of the of the S. E. quarter of Sec. 27, T. 12 N., R. 6, I desire to be equally divided into five equal parts between my children as follows: O. J. Kern x pt, M. M. Kern 1 pt., J. W. Kern 1 pt., Mrs. E. K. Brown 1 pt., and Vern Kern, Edith Kern and Helen Kern, together one part. It is my wish that Mrs. E. K. Brown have her share of said premises where the house stands and to make it equal share, commencing at the SE corner of said premises thence north to the north side of bridge in public highway, thence west a sufficient number of rods to make her equal part”

It is not necessary to quote the balance of the will here.

The first codicil reads as follows: “I wish to change one item in my will proper. Where I located 28 acres to Vern Kern, Edith Kern, Helen Kern, I will now make the amount 21 acres. On account that the other land is not so valuable. .There is still left of the land about one hundred and seven acres that is to be divided between O. J. Kern, J. W. Kern, M. M. Kern.”

The second codicil reads as follows: “I, J. A. Kern, being of sound mind, do hereby recall the appointment of J. A. Hortenstine as executor of my will, and appoint Vern H. Kern as sole executor of said will. To Vern Kern, Edith Kern and Helen Kern, I give 21 ‘twenty-one’ acres in Sec. 21. ‘Sec. twenty-one.’ The balance of the farm is to be divided O. J. Kern, J. W. Kern and Minnie Kern.” ' The third codicil does not affect the questions under consideration.

Three principal questions are argued in the briefs and exhaustive and able arguments have been filed by counsel for all parties. The first question considered by counsel is the amount of land that was inherited under 'the will by Vern, Edith and Helen Kern, other than the 30 acres in which their mother had a life interest. It seems to be agreed that at the time of his death the testator owned about 188 acres of land, 160 of which "composed the northeast quarter of section 21, approximately 21.63 acres of an undivided 80 acres were in the west half of the southeast quarter of section 27, and six acres in his home place in Gays.. After devising the property in Gays and 30 acres off the north side of the 160-acre tract, he provided in clause 2 as follows: “The balance of my land in Sec. 21, T. 12 N., R. 6 and 24 acres of the of the S. E. quarter of Sec. 2% T. 12 N., R. 6, I desire to be equally divided into five equal parts between my children as follows: O. J. Kem 1 pt, M. M. Kern 1 pt., J. W. Kern 1 pt., Mrs. E. K. Brown 1 pt., and Vern Kern, Edith Kern and Helen Kern, together one part.” It is manifest from the will that the testator assumed that he owned what was equivalent to 24 acres of • .the west half of the southeast quarter of section 27, when, in fact, he only owned approximately 21.63 acres. Under this clause of the will, considered by itself, fairly construed, Vern Kern and his two sisters, Edith an'd Helen, were devised one-fifth of the balance of the testator’s lands,—that is, one-fifth of 130 acres in the northeast quarter of section 22 and 21.63 acres in section 27, or one-fifth of a total of 151.63 acres,—that is, 30 acres and a fraction to the three, or 10 and a fraction acres to each. Subsequently, in February, 1913, the testator added the first codicil of the will, by which he seemed to assume that he had formerly given 28 acres to Vern, Edith and Helen, and provided that he now desired to make that amount 21 acres instead of 28 acres, “on account that the other land is not so" valuable.” By the second codicil he reiterated his intention to give the three children of his second wife 21 acres in section 21. By virtue of these codicils and the will "the trial court held .that Vern, Edith and Helen Kern were each ,devised not only 21 acres in section 21, but were also devised one-third of one-fifth interest in the 21.63-acre tract in the west half of the southeast quarter of section 27.

It is earnestly' argued by counsel for appellees that this • finding was correct; that the testator did not intend by the two codicils to change his original will as to the interest left to the children of- his second wife in section 27, but that he intended only to change the amount that he left them in section 21.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
127 N.E. 396, 293 Ill. 238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kern-v-kern-ill-1920.