McEbright v. Vogel

31 N.E.2d 866, 31 Ohio Law. Abs. 620, 1940 Ohio App. LEXIS 1226
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 2, 1940
DocketNo. 3241
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 31 N.E.2d 866 (McEbright v. Vogel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McEbright v. Vogel, 31 N.E.2d 866, 31 Ohio Law. Abs. 620, 1940 Ohio App. LEXIS 1226 (Ohio Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

OPINION

By DOYLE, J.

Katherine Milliken died testate in September, 1929. Her executor claimed, as a part of her estate, much of the household goods, furniture, furnishings and jewelry found in her residence and in bank safety deposit boxes, as well as other chattel property owned by the testator. The many pieces of personal property were inventoried as a part of the estate of the deceased and duly appraised.

Several years subsequent to the decease of the testator, her executor deceased, and an administrator de bonis non, with will attached, was appointed by the Probate Court. A second inventory was then taken at his request, and an appraisement made of the remaining chattel assets. Included in this [621]*621inventory was the same chattel property heretofore mentioned as a part of the first inventory, with the exception of that which had been sold by the executor.

Carita McEbright was the sister of the testator and a legatee in her will. She filed exceptions to the second inventory and claimed that she was the owner of the household goods, furniture, jewelry and furnishings fisted in the said inventory. Her right to file the exceptions was challenged Dy the administrator de bonis non, and the Probate Court, upon motion, dismissed the exceptions. This court, on appeal from that order, reversed the action of the Probate Court, and contemporaneous therewith instructed the Probate Court to hear and determine the exceptions of the exceptor. In re Estate of Milliken, 24 Abs 650.

' The matter of the exceptions of Carita McEbright then came on for hearing. Pinal judgment was thereupon entered. Appeal was then taken to the Common Pleas Court for a trial de novo, which court found the property to be assets of the estate and overruled the exceptions. Prom that judgment of the Common Pleas Court the exceptor has appealed to this Court on questions of law. It is her claim here that the property found by the Common Pleas Court to be property of the estate is in truth and fact her property, and that the findings and judgment of the court are contrary to law and against the weight of the evidence. It is asserted that part of the assets claimed for the estate had ibecome her property by way of gift and devise from her ancestors, and that the [remainder was hers by reason of a gift ‘from her sister, Katherine, .made months before the said sister’s death.

The evidence discloses an unusually close family relationship, covering a period of more than half a century.

It is common knowledge that Dr Mc-Ebright, after serving in the army of the Potomac in the Union cause, settled in Akron in 1864. Two children were the issue of his subsequent marriage— Carita (the exceptor in this case) and Katherine (now deceased).

In 1893, Katherine married Dr. C. W. Milliken. After the marriage the two families continued to live in the Mc-Ebright family residence on High street in the city of Akron.

In 1903, and after the death of Dr. McEbright, Mrs. McEbright (the widow), Dr. and Mrs. Milliken, and Carita moved to a new home on East Market street. This home' was almost entirely furnished with the household goods and furnishings which the daughter and their mother had inherited from Dr. McEbright, with the exception of several casual pieces of furniture which were purchased by Dr. Milliken and given by him to Carita and his wife, Katherine.

Most of the purchase money for the new home was obtained from the sale of the old High street home which had been inherited by the daughters. Subsequent to the change of residence, the mother, Mrs. McEbright, died, and the daughters inherited, the chattel property which belonged to her. This included jewelry, trinkets, dishes, and other almost innumerable things which had been accumulated over the years.

The cost of maintaining the household was borne by both Dr. Milliken and Carita McEbright. The doctor practiced his profession and Carita taught in a local college and university. It may be safely asserted that, from the beginning, the members of this household had lived as one family, and that each had depended upon the others for care and support. And it may be further safely asserted, that, after the death of Mrs. McEbright, the furniture and furnishings were recognized by all as the property of both Carita and her sister, Katherine. Typical of the evidence is the following testimony of Carita:

“Q. * * * How was the expense of maintaining the home borne * * * ?
“A. Well, Dr. Milliken was' the head of the house, and he paid many bills, but I also had an interest in maintaining — in many things, and if there was anything that I was called upon to do, I never hesitated. I had a good salary [622]*622in those days, and I paid. I didn’t live there on their bounty. It was part my home.
“Q. It was part your home?
“A. Most decidedly, and Dr. Milliken made me feel so in every way, and I felt that I should bear my part of it.”

The case is replete with evidence which can lead to but one conclusion, and that is that from the years during which the household was presided over by the Civil War surgeon McEbright, on through the years which tolled the death of Dr. and Mrs. McEbright and Dr. and Mrs. Milliken, there was but one' household maintained by Dr. McEbright, Dr. Milliken, and Carita, the latter by means of her salary as a teacher in Buchtel College and Akron University. There was a common ownership of the furniture and furnishings. Carita and Katherine (Mrs. Millik' n) owned it in common.

Included in the inventory were many items of jewelry, dishes, etc. The undisputed evidence shows that some belonged to Carita and some to Katherine, and some to have passed to them in common from their parents. There are many heirlooms listed in the inventory. A typical part of the testimony of Carita follows:

“Q. How did you acquire this property * * * ?
“A. My mother was one of a big family, and the older sons and daughters of the sisters were the age of my mother, and when my sister and I came along, we were the only two of that generation.
“The Court: Just answer how you claim you got it.
“A. Gifts, heirlooms.
“Q. From whom?
“A. From relatives, and I bought some of them, and presents, but the biggest part of my property is heirlooms, gifts from the relatives, from the grandparents and aunts.”

In 1921, Dr. and Mrs. Milliken and Carita, before embarking together on a trip abroad, prepared a list of the contents of the house and of their personal belongings, and after each item a value was placed. There was listed household goods, furnishings, jewelry, and hundreds of miscellaneous items. Some of the items listed were owned by the exceptor alone, some by the sister Katherine alone, and some were owned jointly. The list was prepared for insurance purposes and placed in a safety deposit box until their return.

In 1929, several months prior to the death of the decedent, the evidence shows the decedent to have requested her sister, Carita, to bring to her the inventory which had ■been prepared many years before. It was kept in a desk drawer. After receiving the list from her sister, the decedent placed it in the exceptor’s hands and said: “I want to give you — I’m giving you everything now.

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Related

In re Estate of Green
51 N.E.2d 754 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1942)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 N.E.2d 866, 31 Ohio Law. Abs. 620, 1940 Ohio App. LEXIS 1226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcebright-v-vogel-ohioctapp-1940.