Leman v. Riddel

247 Ill. App. 175, 1928 Ill. App. LEXIS 535
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 18, 1928
DocketGen. No. 31,725
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 247 Ill. App. 175 (Leman v. Riddel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leman v. Riddel, 247 Ill. App. 175, 1928 Ill. App. LEXIS 535 (Ill. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

Mr. Presiding Justice Taylor

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal by Henry W. Leman, guardian of Francis Hamilton Riddel, a minor, from an order of the circuit court confirming an order of the probate court which sustained objections of the minor to the final account and report of the guardian, and directed the guardian to file an amended final account and report, accounting and including therein, as an asset of the minor’s estate, the claim of the guardian against the trustee under the last will of Bessie H. L. Riddel, deceased, in the sum of $4,360.70, with interest at five per cent from July 10,1913, to the date of the amended final account.

Bessie H. L. Riddel, hereinafter called the testatrix, the mother of Francis Hamilton Riddel, a minor, died in Chicago on November 13, 1912, leaving a last will and testament, with a codicil attached, which was duly proved and admitted to probate by the probate court of Cook county on January 17, 1913. It contained the following:

“Second: I hereby give, devise and bequeath to my beloved son, Francis Hamilton Riddel * * * his heirs and assigns forever, the premises, owned by me, with the household fittings and furniture and all personal property contained therein, at the date of my decease, and located in the town of Tiverton, Newport county and State of Rhode Island * * * provided I have not, prior to my decease, sold and disposed of the same.
“Third: All the rest and residue of my estate, real, personal and mixed, of which I may die seized, in expectancy inherited, and to be inherited, including all lapses of legacies in this will provided, I do hereby give, devise and bequeath to Henry W. Leman * * * in trust, however, for the uses and purposes following.”

In a further clause, by virtue of which Henry W. Leman became trustee, the will provided as follows:

“After the payment of the necessary expenses of support of any child or children of my body, who survive me and of all my just debts and funeral expenses and, after the payment of the costs of administration of my estate, and also after the payment of all taxes and expenses of said Trust Estate * * * I hereby authorize and empower and direct my said trustee, out of the net income arising from my trust estate, to expend for and pay to the child or children born of my body me surviving * * * an annual sum * * * as in the opinion of my trustee, shall be deemed just. ’ ’

By the codicil, the testatrix revoked the second clause above mentioned “in so far as it gives, devises and bequeaths to my beloved son, Francis Hamilton Biddel, his heirs and- assigns, forever, the premises, owned by me, and located in the Town of Tiverton,” and devised them to Henry W. Leman, in trust, under the terms of the trust created in the will.

The will appointed Henry W. Leman to be executor, to be guardian of the minor son of the testatrix, hereinafter called the ward, and made him trustee of the greater part of the estate of the testatrix, which was devised to him in the residuary clause.

The.will gave large powers and practically unlimited discretion to Henry W. Leman in the administration of the estate provided for in the will, and in the distribution of the income. The will provided as follows:

“It is my wish, notwithstanding, that he be given greater latitude in the compensation for his services as trustee and greater scope and powers in the administration of the trust estate than are usually conferred and bestowed upon trustees. It is, therefore, my wish that this will be construed liberally and broadly in such respects.”

Although it is admitted on behalf of the guardian that the testatrix “bequeathed to her son Francis Hamilton Riddel certain personal property and household fittings and furniture contained in her .summer home at Tiverton, Rhode Island,” and that she then, in a residuary clause, devised and bequeathed all the “rest and residue” of her estate, real, personal and mixed to Henry W. Leman, in trust, largely for the support of her said son Francis Hamilton Riddel, and for other purposes, with remainders over, upon certain-contingencies ; yet, it is contended by the guardian that his final report, an account in the probate court, ought to have been approved, although its approval would mean that the sum of $4,360.70, the proceeds of the sale of the personal property, located at Tiverton, would be credited to him, the guardian, as having been paid in liquidation of the debts proved against the estate of the testatrix and certain expenses of an ancillary administration.

The question arises, then, whether, as between particular personal property specially bequeathed, and real and other property which is devised in general terms to a trustee in a general, omnibus residuary clause, the property in the residuary" clause is first to be charged with the debts of the estate; in other words, does the property in a general residuary clause of the will, following a specific legacy, bear the burden of the debts of the estate, or must they be borne altogether or ratably by the specific legacy merely because the subject matter of the legacy is personal property?

This was a specific legacy because it was expressly designated and segregated physical personal property. Schouler on Wills, 5th Ed. p. 1534, citing 1 Roper, Legacies, 170 Wms. Exrs. 1158. In 141 N. Y. S. 705, it was held that a bequest of furniture in a residence is a specific legacy. On the other hand, the bequest and devise in the residuary clause, “All the rest and residue of my estate, real, personal and mixed, of which I may die seized * * * I do hereby give, devise and bequeath to Henry W. Leman,” is wholly and expressly general. Schouler says,

“The bequest of all one’s personal estate, or the devise and bequest of all the residue, both, personal and real, cannot be treated as specific; but such a disposition, from its own terms, is general and residuary, and subject to the usual payment and satisfaction of debts and legacies.” Citing Wms. Exrs. 1172; Fairer v. Park, L. R. 3, Ch. D. 309.

Here, the bequest to the minor, in our judgment, being specific and the residuary bequest and devise to the trustee being general, it follows that, although as a rule general legacies must be paid out of the personal property until it is exhausted before recourse can be had to the real estate (Haynes v. McDonald, 252 Ill. 236, 240), the specific bequest to the minor is not subject to the debts until the general residuary estate is exhausted.

The will, as we analyze and interpret it, shows quite convincingly that the intention was to put the burden of the debt of the estate primarily on the property included in the general residuary clause. It is true, as stated above, that it is a general rule that the personal estate shall be primarily applied in discharge of the personal debts, but a testator may by appropriate expression give it immunity over the real estate; and, as said in McCullom v. Chidester, 63 Ill. 477, “The exemption may be manifested by plain intention or by making of the personalty a specific legacy.” Reid v. Corrigan, 143 Ill. 402. In Fenwick v. Chapman, 9 Pet. (U. S.) 461, 470, the court said,

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247 Ill. App. 175, 1928 Ill. App. LEXIS 535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leman-v-riddel-illappct-1928.