Lyon v. Clawson

39 A. 1064, 56 N.J. Eq. 642, 11 Dickinson 642, 1898 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 88
CourtNew Jersey Court of Chancery
DecidedApril 6, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 39 A. 1064 (Lyon v. Clawson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lyon v. Clawson, 39 A. 1064, 56 N.J. Eq. 642, 11 Dickinson 642, 1898 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 88 (N.J. Ct. App. 1898).

Opinion

Reed, V. C.

This bill is filed to obtain a construction of the will of Isiah D. Clawson, deceased, and also to compel William S. Clawson, trustee under the said will, to pay to the complainants the shares of a legacy bequeathed to Israel Hires and Harry S. Hires, and by them assigned to the complainants.

The deceased, by his will, dated December 13th, 1871, made the following bequest:

“Item. I give, devise and bequeath to nay executors the sum of twenty thousand dollars, which I direct them to keep at interest on good mortgage security, and to pay to my sister Elizabeth, wife of Rev. Allen J. Hires, during her natural life, annually, the interest thereof; the first payment to be made to her in one year after my decease. And I do order my executors, within one year after the decease of my said sister Elizabeth, to pay over the principal sum of twenty thousand dollars, 'and the interest which may have accrued thereon, to the children of my said sister Elizabeth in equal portions, share and share alike; and should any child or children of my said sister Elizabeth die before my said sister Elizabeth, leaving a child or children surviving, then such child or children to take the share of such deceased parent. But should any child or children of my said sister Elizabeth, or any child or .children of a deceased child, not having attained the age of twenty-one years at the decease of my said sister Elizabeth, then I order the share of such minor child or children to be paid to them respectively when they arrive at the age cf twenty-one years.”

The testator afterwards, under date of December 11th, 1876, executed a codicil to this will, in the terms following:

“ Whereas, I, Isiah D. Clawson, of Woodstown, Salem county, New Jersey, have made my last will and testament, bearing date the first day of December, A. D. eighteen hundred and seventy-one, and, in my said last will, I give and bequeath unto my executors the sum of twenty thousand dollars, which I direct them to keep at interest on good security, and to pay the interest annually to my sister Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. A. J. Hires, during her natural life; now, I do take from my said executors the said sum of twenty thousand dollars and revoke and annul the said bequest, and direct them to keep and put at interest the sum of twelve thousand dollars instead of the twenty thousand dollars, for my said sister Elizabeth to have the interest of annually during her natural life, which sum of twelve thousand dollars I give my executors for the purposes aforesaid.”

All the rest of the estate was given to the executors to hold in trust for certain purposes. All these executors had died or re[644]*644signed, and the defendant William S. Clawson is now trustee and entitled to said residue.

Elizabeth, the wife of the -Rev. Allen J. Hires, died July 29th, 1896. She left surviving her three children, Israel C. Hires, Harry S. Hires and Elizabeth E. Clawson. On April 9th, 1886, while their mother was still living, the two sons assigned their shares in said legacy to the complainants for a valuable consideration, and directed the executors of said will to pay the same to the complainants. This assignment seems to have been made to secure the payment by the two Hires to the complainants of the sum of $4,500, with interest thereon from April 9th, 1886, and also to secure the repayment of premiums paid by the complainants upon an insurance policy issued upon the life of Harry S. Hires, and also to secure the repayment of premiums paid by the complainants for fire insurance upon a steamboat. The complainants seem to have paid these premiums, and there is a debt due to them from the two heirs in excess of the sum of $8,000.

William S. Clawson and Martha Clawson, two of the defendants, filed an answer denying that any legacy belonged to the, children of Elizabeth, and that therefore no interest passed from them to the complainants by the assignment. They also chai-' lenge the right of the complainants to file this bill, even if the legacy belonged to the children of Elizabeth.

The first question in order is whether, assuming that Israel C. and Harry S. Hires were each entitled to one-third of the principal sum of $12,000 upon the death of their mother, and assuming that such right passed to the complainants, by assign-, ment, the complainants are rightly in this court in this suit.

I can perceive no substantial reason for a doubt.

Upon the death of Elizabeth there was imposed upon William S. Clawson, as trustee, the duty of paying over the money to the legatees. -The right of the legatees to compel the executor to execute this trust in this court is entirely clear. The right of the eestuis que trust passed to the complainants by the assignment, and whether the assignment was absolute or in pledge to secure the personal indebtedness of the legatees, in either case the com[645]*645plainants were invested with the right to recover the full amount of the gifts assigned to them. Their right to compel the execution of the trust, therefore, seems entirely clear.

The second is the important question. Had the children of Elizabeth E. Clawson any interest in the $12,000 after the death of their mother? The insistence of the trustee is that the codicil to the will revoked the provisions in the will by which the children of Elizabeth were to receive the principal sum of $20,000 or any other sum.

The gift contained in the codicil is clearly substitutional. The language is that $12,000 shall be kept out at interest, instead of $20,000 as is provided for by the will. The complainants rely upon the rule that the substituted legacy is subject to the same incidents and conditions as the original legacy. Hawk. Wills 306; Jarm. Wills (R. & T. ed.) 354.

Mr. Theobald states the rule to be drawn from the cases cited by him in this way :

“A gift in addition to or in lieu of a previous gift to the same legatee, is subject to the same conditions as the previous gift, with respect to vesting, separate estate, the fund out of which it is payable, freedom from legacy duty and provisions against lapsing.” Theob. Wills (4th ed.) 125.

In respect to the question whether a substitutional gift is subject to a gift over attached to the original gift, the same author remarks:

“It is not quite clear whether an additional or suhstitutional gift will be subject to the same executory gift over as the original gift. It seems, how-over, that it will not.”

Sir W. Paige Wood, master of the rolls, in Mann v. Fuller, Kay 624, said: “ If the former gift was absolute and free of legacy duty, the additional gift has been held to have all the same incidents; so, if the former is to be lost on a certain event, the additional gift is to be defeated on the same conditions. In no case has it been held that the latter gift is to go to the parties entitled under the subsequent limitations of the former gift.”

In that case a legacy was given to A for life, with an execu[646]*646tory gift over, and then there was an additional gift simply to A, and it was held that A took the latter gift absolutely.

And in Sandford v. Sandford, 1 De G. & S. 67, the same was held in respect to a substitutionary gift. I have found no case, however, which seems to me to be similar to the one in hand.

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Related

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118 A.2d 93 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1955)
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Bluebook (online)
39 A. 1064, 56 N.J. Eq. 642, 11 Dickinson 642, 1898 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 88, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lyon-v-clawson-njch-1898.