Mundy's Executors v. Mundy

15 Ohio C.C. 155
CourtOhio Circuit Courts
DecidedDecember 15, 1897
StatusPublished

This text of 15 Ohio C.C. 155 (Mundy's Executors v. Mundy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Circuit Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mundy's Executors v. Mundy, 15 Ohio C.C. 155 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1897).

Opinion

Wilson, J.

At common law the rule is, marriage and the subsequent birth of a' child, amount to a revocation of a will of the husband made before marriage; but that a subsequent marriage, or the birth of a child, is not a revocation- — -they must conjoin. This rule was taken from the Civil Law, based upon “a presumed alteration of the intention of the testator arising from the occasion of new moral duties.” But in the [157]*157case of Doe d. Lancashire v. Lancashire, 5 Term Rep., 49, Lord Kenyon says:

“Perhaps the foundation of the principle is not so much an intention to alter the will arising from these circumstances happening afterwards, as a tacit condition annexed to the will itself, at the time of making it, that the party does not intend it should take effect if there should be a total change in the relations of the family.”

In the case of Rush v. Wilkin, 4 Johnson’s Ch., 506,Chancellor Kent says:

“The claim of the wife to the benefit of this presumption in the case'of a devise of land, is admitted not to be very strong, because, if she was let in, the land would still descend to the heir, and the law has secured to her, in every event, a provision for life, out of the real estate. Her claim to a provision from the personal estate, rests on higher ground, for in respect to that portion of her husband’s property, she is left entirely at the control of his will and pleasure; but her pretension is here also weakened from the consideration of the provision by dower, which the common law has already secured to her.”

These conditions have been modified by statute, in this state, to the extent that the wife is now the heir of the husband, both as to real estate and personal property, when there are no children, or their descendants, surviving; preserving to her only, the right of dower, if there be children. Provision is also made for her out of the personal estate of the husband, consisting of a year’s support, and one-half of the first four hundred dollars, with one-third of the remainder, after the debts are paid; also her homestead and other exemptions.

The question is, whether, under the law as thus modified, and by reason of such modification, the common law rule, that subsequent marriage alone, does not revoke a will of the husband, is abrogated.

In Tyler v. Tyler, 19 Ill., 151, it is held:

[158]*158“In Illinois, where the statute makes the husband and wife heirs to each other when there is no child or descendant of a child, in the absence of facts arising subsequent to marriage, showing an intention to die testate, a revocation of a will made by a husband prior to his marriage, by which he disposes of his whole estate, without making any provision in contemplation of the relations arising out of his marriage, will be presumed.”

No reason is given for the rule, in this case, other than the change in the statute of descent, making the wife the heir of the husband, The law. of the case, however, was twice subsequently attacked, in the supreme court of that state, and the court as often refused to reconsider it, for the reason that it had become a rule cf property, and further, it having since been incorporated into the statute law of the state, a reversal would only have a retroactive effect. The American Board of Foreign Missions v. Nelson, 72 Ill., 564; Duryea v. Duryea, 85 Ill., 50.

In the case of Swan v. Hammond, 18 Mass., 45, is found an obiter dictum to the effect that:

“Marriage alone, in the case of a man or woman, would seem to be a sufficient change in condition and circumstances to cause an implied revocation of a will previously made. A will made before marriage, and taking effect after marriage, must take effect in a very different manner from that in the mind of the testator when the will was made. The rights of the husband or wife, must greatly modify its provisions, and it can hardly be supposed, that an unmarried person would make the same will he or she would make after marriage.”

This would seem to be a wholly inadequate ground upon which to raise the implication, that a will, devising real estate in this state, should be revoked by marriage alone, The only effect of marriage upon the devise, would be to burden it with the right of dower, and the law places [159]*159this incumbrance upon the devise, whether the will be made before, or after marriage. There is, therefore, no cogent reason why the will should be changed after marriage, unless it be intended to change the devise. . The statute law of this state, does not undertake to change the devise directly, by a limitation put upon the power of testamentary disposition after marriage, and it would seem to follow, that it should not be done indirectly, by an implied revocation of his will, because of marriage.

In the case of Brown v. Scherrer, 5 Col. App., 255, it is held: “Marriage, although without issue, operates in this state to revoke a will.” This case, however, is distinguishable from the case at bar, by reason of the statutory limitation upon the right of either the husband or the wife, to make a testamentary disposition of an aliquot part of his or her, real estate, as against the right of inheritance in the other. And, inasmuch as the will, made before, is destructive of this right, it is held to be revoked by the marriage, in order that the right may - be protected. The court supports this conclusion by the argument, that in England, a will made before marriage, is revoked as to realty only when a male heir is born, who can inherit under the law of primogeniture, and in that event, the father not having, the power to defeat the statutory right of inheritance, the will is revoked ex necessitate.

So, in the case of Garrett v. Dabney, 27 Miss., 335, under the married woman’s act in that state, which secured to the husband an estate in fee, if the wife died without issue, her will made before, was held to be revoked by marriage, because it deprived her .of the power to change her will, which was obnoxious to’ her husband’s right in the real estate, vested at the time of marriage. Under the statutes of Ohio, the power of the husband to dispose of his real estate, is the same after marriage as before, leaving to the wife only the statutory right of dower, which attaches [160]*160in any event. The same reason for revocation, therefore, because of marriage, does not exist in this state.

In 37 W. L. B., pp. 265 et seq., is a series of articles on the subject of common law and statutory revocation of wills, by marriage, by birth of child, by both, written, by E. J. Marshall, of the Toledo Bar, in which the writer collates the authorities on the subject, and reaches the conclusion, that the reason for the common law rule, that marriage and birth of a child are both necessary to a revocation, no longer exists in Ohio. The other authorities, cited by appellant’s counsel, do not present any new or additional phase of the question.

In Connecticut, where by statute the wife inherits as heir to her husband, it was held in Goodsell's appeal from Probate, 55 Conn., 171, that ‘‘A will is revoked by marriage and the birth of a child, but not by marriage alone.” Citing, 1 Redfield on Wills. (4th Ed.,) 298; Brush v. Wilkins, 4 Johns. Ch., 506; Warner v. Beach, 4 Gray, 162; Jarman on Wills, (5th Am. Ed.,) 272. To the same effect are Hoitt v. Hoitt, 63 N. H., 475; Bowers v. Bowers, 55 Ind., 430, which are well considered cases.

In the case of Re Estate of Hulett, (Minnesota Supreme Court), 34 L. R.

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Related

Brush v. Wilkins
4 Johns. Ch. 506 (New York Court of Chancery, 1820)
Goodsell's Appeal from Probate
10 A. 557 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1887)
Tyler v. Tyler
19 Ill. 151 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1857)
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions v. Nelson
72 Ill. 564 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1874)
Weld v. Sweeney
85 Ill. 50 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1877)
Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago R. W. Co. v. Crane
55 Ind. 430 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1876)
Garrett v. Dabney
27 Miss. 335 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1854)

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Bluebook (online)
15 Ohio C.C. 155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mundys-executors-v-mundy-ohiocirct-1897.