Newcomb v. Newcomb

57 S.W. 2, 108 Ky. 582, 1900 Ky. LEXIS 78
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedMay 30, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 57 S.W. 2 (Newcomb v. Newcomb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Newcomb v. Newcomb, 57 S.W. 2, 108 Ky. 582, 1900 Ky. LEXIS 78 (Ky. Ct. App. 1900).

Opinion

Opinion op the court by

JUDGE BURN AM

Reversing.

In 1890 E. B. Newcomb died, domiciled in Henderson county, Ky. He left surviving him a widow, two children by her, and one son, the appellee herein, the offspring of a former marriage. At the time of his death he left three papers, each purporting to be his last will and testament. One was dated in July, 1888, one (in his own handwriting) was dated March 1, 1890, and the other was dated March 4, 1890. On the 25th day of August thereafter the Hender[587]*587son County Court admitted to probate the'will dated March 4, 1890, on motion of appellant, who was the principal de-visee in each paper, and named as executrix thereof, and she duly qualified as executrix. Subsequently she returned to the office of the clerk of the county court an inventory of the estate of her husband, which came to her hands as executrix, which was duly recorded therein. An appeal was taken by appellee, W. S. Newcomb, from the judgment of the county court to the Henderson Circuit Court; and upon a jury trial the judgment of the county court was reversed,.and the instrument held not to be the last will of E. B. Newcomb, deceased. Mrs. Newcomb appealed to this court, and in an opinion rendered October 30, 1894, reported in 27 S. W., 997, the judgment of the circuit court was affirmed. The bulk of the ’ estate left by decedent consisted of 1,227 hogsheads of tobacco, which were in the hands of commission merchants in London and Liverpool, England, when E. B. Newcomb died. After the qualification of appellant as executrix of the will of March 4, 1890, and before any appeal had been taken from the probate thereof, she executed a power of attorney authorizing one A. E. Gilliatt, who resided in England, to have ancillary probate 'of the will taken there, and to qualify thereunder in accordance with the English law, which he did, and took possession, under the authority thereby conferred, of all of the tobacco, sold it, paid the outstanding charges against it, including taxes to the government, the debts of E. B. Newcomb to persons residing in England, and held the surplus subject to the order of the court. There also came to the hands of appellant, under her appointment as executrix by the Henderson County Court, something over $2,000 in cash. After the affirmance of the judgment of the circuit court by this, [588]*588court in October, 1894, Mrs. Newcomb produced to the Henderson County Court, and offered for probate, the holographic will date March 1, 1890. Appellee, W. is. New-comb, suggested to the court that the will dated July, 1888, was also in the possession of appellant; and upon his motion a rule was awarded against her to produce that paper, which she did, and offered both of these wills for probate in the alternative. Before the county court had determined the question as to the last wills offered for probate, Mrs. Newcomb, being the sole beneficiary therein, with the consent of contestant abandoned her motion to probate either of these wills in the Henderson County Court, and withdraw them therefrom. She subsequently took these two papers to England, and offered them for probate in the alternative in the probate division of the high court of justice of England; and that court decided that the paper of March 1, 1890, was the true will of decedent, and entered a judgment accordingly on the 22d day of August, 1895, at the same time Revoking the ancillary probate theretofore granted of the will of March 4, 1890, Appellant was also permitted to qualify as executrix thereof, and an order was entered directing A. E. Gilliatt to turn over to her, as such executrix, the net assets of the estate held by him under the ancillary probate of the will of March 4, 1890, which is shown by the evidence herein to have been |58,398. After the affirmance by this court of the judgment of the circuit court rejecting the paper of March 4, 1890, as the last will of deceased, the Ohio Valley Banking & Trust Company was appointed, by an order of the Henderson County Court, administrator of the estate of E. B. New-comb, deceased, and duly qualified thereunder. And subsequently, on the 14th day of August, 1895, appellee in[589]*589stituted this suit in the Henderson. Circuit Court for a settlement of the estate of E. B. Newcomb, deceased, against the Ohio Valley Banking & Trust Company, administrator, and also made Mary Newcomb and her children, Mary and David B. Newcomb, defendants. He asked1 that Mrs. Newcomb should be required to account for the money in her hands arising from the proceeds of the tobacco, which had been sold in England which he alleged amounted to the sum of $180,000. The trust company, as administrator, answered and united in the prayer of plaintiff’s petition, making its answer a cross petition, in which it also sought to recover from Mrs. Newcomb the proceeds of the same tobacco.

Mrs. Newcomb, in her answer, both to the original and amended petitions oft W. S. Newcomb and the cross petition of the trust company, sets out in detail all of the facts heretofore stated as to the character of the estate left by E. B. Newcomb, its location at the time of his death, the probate of his will in the Henderson County Court, the subsequent ancillary probate thereof in England, and qualifications of G-illiatt thereunder, and, by way of further defense, answered that at the time of the death of E. B. Newcomb he was a British subject; that in the year 1862, being then a citizen of the United States, residing in the Dominion of Canada, he made application for naturalization in accordance with the laws of said dominion, and that thereafter, on the 24th day of December, 1865, his application was granted, and a certificate to that effect delivered' to him; that he then and. there took the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, required by law, and remained a British subject until the time of his death. She further alleged that at the time of his naturalization as a British subject, and continuously since that time, the [590]*590laws of Great Britain provided, and have provided, that “every will and other testamentary instrument made out of the United Kingdom by a British subject, • whatever might be the domicile of such person at the time of making the same, or at the time of his or her death, should, as regards personal estate situated in the territorial limits of Great Britain, be held to be well executed for the purpose of being admitted in England and Ireland to probate and in Scotland to confirmation, and to pass title to the property if the same were made according to the forms required either by the law of the place where the same was made or by the laws of the place where such person was domiciled when the same was made,” and, further, that “the laws of Great Britain at the time of the death of E. B. Newcomb provided, and have continuously since provided, that Her Majesty’s high court of justice, probate division, in England, should have jurisdiction to grant original or ancillary probate of any will or other testamentary paper disposing of personal assets and effects within the territorial limits of England; . . . that at the time she intermarried with E. B.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 S.W. 2, 108 Ky. 582, 1900 Ky. LEXIS 78, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newcomb-v-newcomb-kyctapp-1900.