Moffett v. Elmendorf

31 N.Y.S. 726, 82 Hun 470, 89 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 470, 64 N.Y. St. Rep. 357
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 14, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 31 N.Y.S. 726 (Moffett v. Elmendorf) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moffett v. Elmendorf, 31 N.Y.S. 726, 82 Hun 470, 89 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 470, 64 N.Y. St. Rep. 357 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1894).

Opinion

VAN BRUNT, P. J.

In view of the conclusion at which I have arrived, it will not be necessary to discuss some of the points which have been presented upon the part of the appellants. In the brief statement of facts, therefore, no mention is made of the particular circumstances under which such questions arise, and only such facts are stated as seem to be necessary to a comprehension of the points directly involved. Samuel B. Duryea died in the city of Brooklyn on the 7th of June, 1892, without issue, leaving, him surviving, a widow, and having duly made his last will and testament, dated June 18, 1877, and a codicil thereto, dated June 2, 1887, which were duly admitted to probate. The real estate sought to be partitioned in this action was devised by the sixth clause of the will to certain persons, two of whom died before the testator; and the first question presented is whether the shares which those two persons would have taken, if living, lapsed, or whether the devise was a devise to a class, those living at the death of the testator taking the whole. The next question is: If these shares did lapse, did the same pass to the testator’s widow under the second clause of the will, or to his heirs at law under the tenth clause? For a resolution of these questions it will be necessary to consider the whole of the testator’s will and codicil, and gather from them the general intention of the testator, and then particularly consider the clauses of the will and codicil which seem to illustrate more pointedly such intention.

Considerable stress has been laid by the appellants upon what is called an error of the referee in the method pursued by him in determining the true construction to be placed upon the will in question; and it is urged that the referee erred in considering the will as speaking as of the death of the testator, rather than as of the time when the will in question was made; and our attention is called to various adjudications upon this subject, tending to show that in those particular cases the will was held to speak as of the date of its execution, rather than as of the date of the death of the testator. But the question as to the rule of construction is one which must necessarily depend upon the peculiar circumstances of each particular case. It is the intention of the testator which is to determine the construction to be placed upon the will; and, in reaching a conclusion as to what such intention was, adjudicated cases in respect to other wills afford but little aid, because no two wills are alike. It has become almost a maxim of the law that no will has a brother. The language used in each is different, the situation of the testator is different, and the ends to be accomplished are different. Therefore, the intention of a testator must be gathered from the will itself, the court being aided in its construction by his situation at the making of the will and at his death. In the case at bar, in order to arrive at [728]*728the intention of the testator, it is necessary to consider, not only the will, but also the codicil which the testator made to said will some 10 years after its execution. It is a familiar principle of law that the making of a codicil is substantially the republication of the will; and this rule is invoked upon the part of some of the appellants for the purpose of showing that the testator did not intend that the legacies in question should lapse. Having these general rules in view, and having in mind the fact that the testator did not intend to die intestate, we shall proceed to consider the particular clauses of the will which form the subject-matter of this controversy. As already stated, the testator left a widow, but no issue, and therefore only collateral relatives. The first and second clauses of the will are as follows:

“First. I give to my beloved wife, Kate Duryea, all my personal property and estate not herein otherwise bequeathed, unless in the contingency of my surviving her, or of her and my decease on the same day, or by occasion of the same wreck or casualty proving fatal to both; and in that case I bequeath said personal estate to my next of kin. The provisions of this will in favor of my wife are made by me, and are to be accepted by her, in lieu of all claims of dower in my real estate, or any portion thereof.”
“Second. All my real estate, except the portions thereof hereinafter otherwise given or disposed of, I give, in like manner, to my said wife, if I leave no issue, but if I leave any children, living or afterborn, or the descendants of any deceased child, I give the real property in this clause devised to my wife and such issue in equal shares; that is, each child, the representatives-of each deceased child as a class, and my wife are severally and respectively to take equal shares therein.”

By the third, fourth, and fifth clauses he makes certain disposition of remainders in real estate. The sixth clause, which is the clause under which the question as to the lapsed legacies arises, is as follows:

“Sixth. I give and devise to my aunt, Catherine Elwell, and my cousins, Mary S. Elmendorf, John D. Elwell, Joseph S. Elwell, Cornelius A. Elwell, Annie A. Elwell, James H. Elwell, and Sarah E. Elwell (each to take an equal share therewith), my lots on the southerly side of Sixteenth street, between First avenue and Avenue A, in the city of New York; also, my lots on the southerly side of Sixty-First street, between First avenue and Avenue A, in-the city of New York; also, my lots and premises now or heretofore known as ‘No. 270 Mott Street,’ in the city of New York; and also my house and lot now or heretofore known as ‘No. 143 Mercer Street,’ in the city of New York.”

By the eighth clause of the will he gave to the Brooklyn Children’s Aid Society of the City of Brooklyn a considerable amount of real estate. By the ninth clause he gave legacies to divers persons. ' The tenth clause is as follows:

“Tenth. All the residue of my real estate (if any there prove to be) I give and devise to those who may be my heirs at law at the time of my decease, and in the same proportion in which they would have taken if, as to such residue, I should have died intestate.”

This will, as already stated, was executed on the 18th of June, 1877. On the 2d of June, 1887, the testator made a codicil to his will, by which he revoked the eighth item or section .of Ms will, in relation to the Brooklyn Children’s Aid Society of the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., by which also he requested his wife to pay, so long as she lived, $500 annually to the Tree-Planting and Fountain Society of the city of Brooklyn; by wMch also he bequeathed to the [729]*729Long Island Historical Society his library and manuscripts; and then made some directions in regard to the burial of his remains, and provision for the keeping of the burial plot in order.

Catherine Elwell and Cornelius Elwell, two of the devisees named in the sixth clause of the will, died before the testator; and the first question is, did their share in the devise lapse, or was the devise to a class, the survivors taking the whole? In support of the contention that the. survivors took the whole, our attention is called to the cases of Hoppcock v. Tucker, 59 N. Y. 204; Manier v. Phelps, 15 Abb. N. C. 127; Clark v. Lynch, 46 Barb. 69; Magaw v. Field, 48 N. Y. 668; Page v. Gilbert, 32 Hun, 303; In re Seebeck, 63 Hun, 179, 17 N. Y. Supp. 676; and Ferrer v. Pyne, 81 N. Y. 285. These cases, however, all depend upon the particular language which was there being construed, and establish no general rule which is to control.

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Bluebook (online)
31 N.Y.S. 726, 82 Hun 470, 89 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 470, 64 N.Y. St. Rep. 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moffett-v-elmendorf-nysupct-1894.