Livingston v. Freeland

3 Barb. Ch. 510, 1848 N.Y. LEXIS 218
CourtNew York Court of Chancery
DecidedJune 30, 1848
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Barb. Ch. 510 (Livingston v. Freeland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Livingston v. Freeland, 3 Barb. Ch. 510, 1848 N.Y. LEXIS 218 (N.Y. 1848).

Opinion

The Chancellor.

The objection that the master has not stated in his report all the property upon which the part of the annuity in question in this case is chargeable, by the decree, is one in which the appellant has no interest, if the master is right in supposing that the lands and premises now belonging to her are primarily liable for the payment of that part of the annuity. As I understand the .case, Herman Livingston has satisfied one-third of this eighth of the annuity; and has obtained a release from Mrs. Freeland for all the lands belonging to him at the time of the decree of November, 1844, upon which that eighth of the annuity was charged by that decree; except certain lands which he had conveyed to others previous to such release, and lot No. 1 of his share. Talbot’s affidavit also shows that he has paid another third of that eighth of the annuity, and has conveyed all the lands in this state which were included in the deed of July, 1843. The contest between the parties, therefore, is as to which property shall be charged with the remaining third of that eighth of the annuity. And if the lands which originally belonged to Mrs. A. Bogardus, under the will of her father, did not now belong to the same person [520]*520who owns the husband’s share of the property which was purchased from Henry Livingston the younger, or enough thereof to satisfy the whole of that portion of the annuity, there might be some difficulty in sustaining the master’s report.

The decree of the first of November, 1844, does not profess to designate the order in which the lands that, by such decree, were left subject to the lien of' the eighth part of the widow’s annuity thereon, as and for Henry’s share of such annuity, shall be charged. It is necessary, therefore, to inquire what were the equitable rights of the parties, at the time of the making of that decree. The share of Henry Livingston the younger originally was all primarily chargeable with this portion of the dower of his mother. But in the arrangement of July, 1843, he conveyed to Herman Livingston and to his two brothers-in-law, Bogardus and Talbot, all the lands specifically devised to him, except the homestead and Monell farms, and they gave back to him a mortgage for $7000 upon the Ancram iron works and 70 acres'of the Ancram farm around such' works. And it appears by the recitals in the decree, that the grantees in that conveyance covenanted to indemnify the grantor against the debts, and to perform all the obligations imposed upon him by reason of his being named as a devisee of a specific portion of his father’s estate. This of course included an obligation to discharge him, and the two' farms which were left to him, of the annuity which by a previous decree had, been charged upon him and his estate. It is true, the charge of the mother upon his two farms was not released by this arrangement; but that part of his share of the devised estate which was granted to "his brother and his two brothers-in-law became, in equity, primarily chargeable with the payment of his share of the annuity. And as between the Ancram iron works and the 70 acres of the Ancram-farm which they mortgaged to him at the time of his conveyance to them, and the residue of the lands granted to them, such residue was equitably chargeable with the whole óf his share of the annuity ; as the primary fund for the payment tLiereof.

Again; the same grantees and their wives, a few months afterwards, made an absolute conveyance, to Henry Livingston [521]*521the younger, of the Ancram iron works and the 70 acres adjoining the same; with full covenants of warranty and of seisin, and against all incumbrances thereon. That conveyance, therefore, independent of the equity acquired under the $7000 mortgage, gave to the grantee therein, and his assigns, an unquestionable equity to have the eighth of the annuity originally chargeable on the whole of the lands devised to him, charged primarily upon the other lands conveyed to Bogardus, Talbot, and Herman Livingston, in July, 1843. But as Talbot and Bogardus had conveyed two-thirds of the 95. acres of the Ancram farm to Herman Livingston, with warranty, their two-thirds of the coal lands and of the testator’s original interest in the Salisbury ore beds became primarily chargeable with the whole of their two-thirds of that eighth of the annuity. And as Herman Livingston had conveyed his interest in the Salisbury ore beds to Chittenden, his third of the coal lands and his interest in the 95 acres of the Ancram farm, were primarily liable for the payment of his one-third of this eighth of the annuity. The mortgage from Bogardus and wife to Gunn was prior in date to the deed from Herman Livingston and his two brothers-in-law to his brother Henry. But inasmuch as it embraced other lands besides the interest which Bogardus acquired, under the deed of July, 1843, in the coal lands, and in the Ancram iron works and the Ancram farm, such other lands were primarily liable in equity for the payment of that mortgage; before resort could be had to the Ancram iron works and the 70 acres around the same, or the 95 acres of the Ancram farm, which the mortgagors had subsequently conveyed, with warranty. Such were the equities of the several parties, interested in the lands upon which Henry Livingston’s eighth of the annuity was chargeable, at the time the final decree in the partition suit was made, in November, 1844. That decree, however, not only changed the title to the coal lands previously owned by Herman Livingston and his two brothers-in-law, as tenants in common, by assigning portions thereof to other members of the family of Henry Livingston deceased, and giving the wives of Bogardus and Talbot interests in such lands, but it also charged this eighth [522]*522of {he annuity upon other lands set off to Herman Livingston in bis own right, and to Bogardus and Talbot in right of their respective . wives. In- doing this, however, no injustice was clone" to the wives of- Bogardus and Talbot, or to the mortgagees to whom Bogardus.arid wife:had mortgaged seven-eighths of their interest in!subdivision No., 1-in"great lot No. 3,.in November, 1838. ■ For the lands set off to Mrs. Bogardus, and to Mrs. Talbot, respectively, in severalty, including -a share of the .4312 acres of tile coal lands,.were much more valuable than their shares of the lairds as originally devised to them by the will of theii father. These coal lands, as proved by the testimony of Augustus Tremain before the master,"weré worth, o a an average, from eighteen to twenty dollars an acre. ■ This, at the lowest estimate of the witness, would increase the value of each share about $>11,000. For. by the will of the testator the excess in the value of the lands devised to Henry was not to be made up to the other devisees in land; but was to be paid to the executors in money, for the use. of such devisees. It was therefore personal estate, which belonged to the husbands of Mrs. Bogardus and Mrs. Talbot, by virtue of their marital rights, and was hot'subject to the lien of the mortgage to Meseck and Best. The increased value of the lands which were assigned to the shares of Mrs. Bogardus and Mrs. Talbot, in the partition, was therefore much more than an equivalent to them, and to. Meseck and Best the mortgagees, for the two-•thirds of Henry Livingston’s eighth of the annuity; which by the decree were charged upon the whole shares of the estate assigned to Mrs. Bogardus and Mrs. Talbot in severalty, as well as upon the lands and property embraced in the deed, to their husbands and their brother Herman, of July, 1843.

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3 Barb. Ch. 510, 1848 N.Y. LEXIS 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/livingston-v-freeland-nychanct-1848.