Loesch's Estate

23 Pa. D. & C. 606, 1935 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 171
Pennsylvania Orphans' Court, Erie County·Decided July 31, 1935·No. no. 203·Published

Opinion

Waite, P. J.,

This matter is before the court on petition of Anna M. Loesch, widow of Eugen Loesch, deceased, asking that the executors of said estate be directed to make payment to her out of the personal estate of the sum of $15,000 provided for in an antenuptial agreement and that the unpaid balance, if any, be made a lien upon decedent’s real estate.

The answer filed admits that petitioner under said agreement is entitled to the sum of $15,000 to be paid out of the decedent’s personal estate, but denies that any part of the same may be made a lien upon decedent’s real estate, avers that there is sufficient personal estate for the payment of the said amount, and further alleges that the said decedent in his lifetime purchased with his own funds five certain bonds and mortgages having a face value of $18,000, title to which was taken in the joint names of decedent and petitioner, and intended as payment or security for the payment of the sum provided for in the said antenuptial agreement.

It was urged by the attorney for the petitioner at the hearing and subsequently at the argument that the petitioner claims title to the said bonds and mortgages as a gift from decedent in his lifetime in addition to the amount provided for in the antenuptial agreement.

The $15,000 payment provided for in the antenuptial agreement, if not paid during the lifetime of Eugen Loesch, upon his death became a debt of his estate, but could only be made a lien on his real estate as provided in the Fiduciaries Act of June 7, 1917, P. L. 447, sec. 15 (a), as amended by the Act of June 7,1919, P. L. 412, sec. 1. The proceedings to make this debt a lien upon decedent’s real estate is in the court of common pleas. The orphans’ court has no jurisdiction for that purpose. See Conner’s Estate, 302 Pa. 534. Nor does the fact that the payment of the amount specified in the antenuptial agreement is directed in testator’s will, make it a lien or charge against his real estate, there being no provision therein so directing. See Cable’s Appeal, 91 Pa. 327. This mat[609] ter is not very important in this ease, since, according to the testimony of one of the executors, and shown by the account filed, there are ample funds in decedent’s personal estate for the payment of the amount provided for. The important question before the court is whether the petitioner is entitled to retain the said bonds and mortgages in addition to the payment provided for in the said agreement.

To determine this question it is necessary to take into consideration not only the terms of the agreement but all the surrounding facts and circumstances, including the subsequent transaction between the parties. The fact that the parties were well along in years and had accumulated separate estates of their ov/n, that deceased had been married before and had children by that marriage are all circumstances to be taken into account: Krug’s Estate, 196 Pa. 484; Neely’s Appeal, 23 W. N. C. 336; Tiernan v. Binns et al., 92 Pa. 248, 253. The general rules governing the construction of contracts apply to antenuptial agreements: 30 C. J. 646, sec. 210; Shoch v. Shoch’s Execs., 19 Pa. 252.

Under the terms of this agreement alone, the wife can take only the $15,000 therein provided for. It has been well said that it is a rule not only of law but of common sense not to attempt to construe that which needs no construction. The difficulty here is not as to the terms of the agreement but as to their application to the existing conditions and subsequent events.

In 30 C. J. 650, sec. 214, it is said:

“A marriage settlement will cover after-acquired property where it is apparent from the terms of the settlement that it was the manifest intention of the parties to include such property, and it is not necessary that the intention to apply the agreement to future acquired property should be expressly stated in the contract, where this intention may be gathered from the general tenor of the instrument.”

In In re Hewett, 1 L. R., Ch. Div. 362 [1894], it is held [610] that a wife’s joint interest in a personal estate created by an instrument subsequent to the marriage settlement is included. See 30. C. J. 650, note 41 [a] (2).

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Loesch's Estate, 23 Pa. D. & C. 606, 1935 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 171 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1935).

23 Pa. D. & C. 606 (Loesch's Estate) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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