McCullough v. Lauman

80 P. 441, 38 Wash. 227, 1905 Wash. LEXIS 1152
Washington Supreme Court·Decided April 11, 1905·No. No. 5491·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Eoot, J.

One George Lauman died, leaving a will, which was duly admitted to probate by the superior court in Spokane county. The portions of said will material upon the questions involved in this appeal were substantially as follows: “1st. I wish all my just debts to be paid. 2nd. [Directs place of burial.] 3rd. I desire an appraisement made of all my property I may leave real, personal and mixed, and a sufficient amount sold to pay the special bequests hereinafter named, and also- my debts and for the portion to be set apart for my daughter Jessie Mas-[231] son Lauman. 4th. [Wills $5,000 to each of two nephews.]' 5th. [Wills $7,000 to his sisters, and the children of a deceased sister.] 6th. [Directs one thousand dollars to be placed at interest, and the proceeds to be used in beautifying and keeping in order cemetery lots.] 7th. After the foregoing bequests have been provided for, I desire that one % of the remainder of my estate on value as found by appraisement shall be placed in trust . . . for the benefit of my daughter Jessie Masson Lauman . . . 8th. The remainder of my estate shall also be held in trust by same Trust C'o., aforesaid and the net rents and proceeds shall be paid at least annually to my sisters share and share alike, . . . [naming them and the children of a deceased sister].”

The executors of the will, being in doubt as to the construction to be placed upon some of its terms, requested the advice and protection of the court as to the manner of giving effect to its provisions. They submitted to the court the following four interrogatories:

“(1) Is the bequest, referred to in the 3rd clause of said will by said testator, as ‘the portion to be set apart for my daughter, Jessie Masson Lauman,’ concerning which he speaks more particularly in the 7th clause of said will, a legacy, differing from the other legacies given by said will, only, in that the specific amount thereof is not mentioned, but is to be determined by the appraisement directed to be made by said clause 3, or is it a devise of one-fourth part of the residuary estate, coupled with a direction for its segregation from the rest of said residuary estate, its conversion into money, and investment upon the trusts mentioned in said 7th clause.

“(2) If it is to be considered as a legacy, does the provision for the appraisement of the testator’s estate^ directed to be made by the 3d clause of said will, refer only to the appraisement, required by the laws of this state, to be made of the estates of all deceased persons, and if so, on [232] the making of the inventory and appraisement on April 12th, 1902, hereinbefore referred to, was the provision relative to an appraisement in the 3rd clause of said will fully complied with, and are plaintiffs required to compute and ascertain the amount necessary to create the trust fund referred to in the 7th clause of said will upon the basis of said appraisement, without regard to whether the estate has increased or diminished in value, since the date of said appraisement.

(3) If the testator, in making provision, as aforesaid, for an appraisement, referred to another and different appraisement than that provided by statute to be made of his estate, then by whom, in what manner, and at what time is such appraisement to be made ?

“(4) In case the bequest, referred to by the testator as the portion to be set aside for the benefit of his daughter, is adjudged to be a legacy, is it intended that said legacy should equal in amount, one-fourth of the gross value of said estate on appraisement, either already made or here¡after to be made, as it may be by this honorable court determined, or equal in amount to one-fourth part of the net value of said estate, according to such appraisement, after deducting all debts, other legacies, and costs of administration, or whether debts and other legacies only are to be deducted from such appraised value, or finally, the other legacies only, in computing the amount of the aforesaid legacy.”

A hearing was had before the superior court upon these matters, and thereupon findings of fact and conclusions of law were made and entered. The court found, among other things, that the estate had been appraised, in the manner in which estates are ordinarily appraised under the provisions of our probate statutes, at the sum of $200,691.61; that the debts of said testator, including taxes which were a lien upon the estate at the time of his death, amounted to $72,803.84; that certain unimproved lands of the estate had been sold, and the sum of $12,490 realized from said sales, and the debts of said estate re[233] duced to $55,000; that the real estate unsold had increased in value since the original appraisement, and was, at the time of the hearing herein, of the value of $250,000 subject to encumbrances in the amount of $55,000. The conclusions of the trial, court were as follows:

“(1)_ That the intention of the testator, in directing an appraisement of the whole of his estate, was that the same should be made as soon as possible after his decease, so that his executors would be able to then form an intelligent estimate of the amount of real estate they would have to sell, under the power of sale conferred on them, before they were called on to exercise the same, and also to determine the amount of the sum to be set apart, as directed by the will, for the benefit of the defendant Jessie Masson Lauman.

“(2) That tne appraisement, made April 12th, 1902, fully complied with testator’s intention, and is the only appraisement required by the will to be made:

“(3)_ That the sum to be placed in trust, as directed by paragraph 7 of said will, is a legacy, the amount of which is arrived at by deducting $18,000.00, the amount of the legacies termed by the testator special bequests, directed to be paid by paragraphs 4, 5, and 6 of said will, from $200,691.61, the total of the appraised value of the whole estate, leaving $182,691.61, one-fourth of which, or $45,-675.40, will be the amount to be placed in trust as directed in said paragraph 7.

“(4) That, in announcing the purpose for which he gives his executors a power of sale, in paragraph 3 of said will, the testator placed no special significance on the order in which those purposes are mentioned.

“(5) That it was the intention of the testator that his debts and expenses of administration should be paid out of the remainder of his estate, after the special bequests and the legacy bequeathed by paragraph 7 were paid.”

A decree was made and entered in accordance with these conclusions of law. From this decree, the sisters and children of the deceased sister of testator who are mentioned as [234] beneficiaries in paragraphs five and eight of the will appeal, as does also testator’s daughter, Jessie Masson Lauman, mentioned in paragraphs three and seven of the will.

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McCullough v. Lauman, 80 P. 441, 38 Wash. 227, 1905 Wash. LEXIS 1152 (Wash. 1905).

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