Palmer v. Lincoln Audubon Society

251 F. Supp. 736, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7895
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maine
DecidedMarch 15, 1966
DocketCiv. No. 8-115
StatusPublished

This text of 251 F. Supp. 736 (Palmer v. Lincoln Audubon Society) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Palmer v. Lincoln Audubon Society, 251 F. Supp. 736, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7895 (D. Me. 1966).

Opinion

GIGNOUX, District Judge.

This is an action under 14 M.R.S.A. § 6501 et seq. for the partition of two parcels of real estate located on Muscongus Bay in the Town of Bremen, Maine. Jurisdiction is conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Plaintiff claims, as tenant in common with defendant, a one-third interest in one parcel and a two-thirds interest in the second parcel. Defendant claims the entire interest in both parcels. Defendant’s claim of sole ownership is derived from a deed dated September 6, 1947, to National Audubon Society1 from Myra J. Nash, who was the sole devisee under the will of her deceased husband, Charles K. Nash. Plaintiff’s claim of title is based upon a deed dated November 17, 1964 to plaintiff from Amy Nash Holt, who was the sole surviving child of Charles K. Nash and was not mentioned in his will. The dispositive question is whether, as plaintiff contends, Amy Nash Holt acquired a two-thirds interest in her father’s real estate by virtue of the Maine Pretermitted Child Statute, 18 M.R.S.A. § 1005 (formerly Me.Rev.Stat. ch. 155 § 9 (1944).2 This statute provides in pertinent part:

“A child, or the issue of a deceased child not having any devise in the will, [737]*737takes the share of the testator’s estate, which he would have taken if no will had been made, unless it appears that such omission was intentional, or was not occasioned by mistake, or that such child or issue had a due proportion of the estate during the life of the testator.”

The essential facts are not in dispute. Charles K. Nash died testate on February 9, 1946. He was survived by his widow, Myra J. Nash, who was then 86 years old, and a daughter, Amy Nash Holt, who was 58 years of age. At the time of his death, Mr. Nash owned, as tenant in common with his wife, a one-half interest in the Nash farm, so called, at Bremen, Maine, and he owned the entire interest in a separate parcel, known as the “Dewyea” lot. His will, which was executed on March 6, 1941, left all his property real and personal to his widow, who was named executrix, and made no mention of his daughter.3 The will was duly allowed for probate by the Lincoln County Probate Court on September 2, 1947.

Mr. and Mrs. Nash had lived together on the family farm for many years prior to his death in 1946. Mr. Nash was a farmer, and neither he nor Mrs. Nash owned any other property, or had any source of income other than the farm and such odd jobs as Mr. Nash might obtain in the area. They had three children: Harold, Beatrice and Amy. Harold never married, and died in 1932. Beatrice, an invalid and unmarried, lived with her parents on the farm until her death on February 6,1941. Amy and her husband, Harry W. Holt, whom she had married in 1920, had no children. She and her husband had lived since their marriage in Berlin, New Hampshire, where he was employed by the Brown Company. Amy had taught school in Maine and New Hampshire previous to her marriage, and was an experienced school teacher. She was 53 years old at the time Mr. Nash executed his will on March 6, 1941, just four weeks after the death of Beatrice.

The parties are in substantial agreement as to the principles governing pretermission under the Maine Pretermitted Child Statute, as they have been declared by the Maine court. The sole question is whether the omission to provide for a child in a will was intentional, and not occasioned by mistake. Walton v. Roberts, 141 Me. 112, 114, 39 A.2d 655 (1944); Ingraham, Appellant, 118 Me. 67, 69, 105 A. 812 (1919).4 The statute raises a presumption that the omission was not intentional. Jordan v. Jordan, 155 Me. 5, 9, 150 A.2d 763, 765 (1959); Walton v. Roberts, supra, 141 Me. at 115, 39 A.2d at 656. This presumption, however, is rebuttable, Jordan v. Jordan, supra; Walton v. Roberts, supra; In[738]*738graham, Appellant, supra, and the burden of rebutting it is on those who oppose the claim of the child. Walton v. Roberts, supra. Declarations of a testator are admissible on this point, id.; Whittemore v. Russell, 80 Me. 297, 299, 14 A. 197, 198 (1888), and all the relevant facts and circumstances of the testator’s life at the time the will was drawn may also be shown. Walton v. Roberts, supra; Ingraham, Appellant, supra, 118 Me. at 70, 105 A. at 813. The circumstances of the testator’s life at the time he executed his will may “speak even more conclusively than would direct evidence of (his) intent.” Walton v. Roberts, supra. “With the wisdom or propriety of the testator’s act the law has nothing to do. If adequate and convincing proof, extrinsical the will, shall show that when that instrument was made, the son being present to his mind, the parent purposely ignored him, and otherwise made bestowal of his bounty, then we must hold that the testator’s will be done.” Ingraham, Appellant, supra 118 Me. at 68, 105 A. at 812. “The clause, ‘or was not occasioned by mistake,’ is introduced in the statute to enforce or give emphasis to the meaning of the preceding word, ‘intentional,’ which is the ruling expression.” Id. at 69, 105 A. at 813. The word “mistake” is not to be construed as meaning such mistake “ ‘as would or might have caused the testator to entertain a different intention from that which omission from the will would show, but mistake or accident in the will or in its transcription.’ It must, in the context, refer to such mistake or mistakes as are likely accidentally to occur in the preparation of a will, as momentary rather than purposed forgetfulness, owing to the distress of the testator; or error, on the part of the scribe or otherwise, in reducing the testator’s intention in that behalf to writing, and not to misapprehension or misunderstanding as to matters outside the will, whether of law or of fact.” Id.

Applying these principles to the instant case, the Court is satisfied that the defendant has rebutted the statutory presumption, and has shown by adequate and convincing evidence that the omission by Charles K. Nash to provide in his will for his daughter, Amy Nash Holt, was intentional, and not occasioned by mistake.

The evidence establishes beyond doubt that Amy was present to her father’s mind when he made his will on March 6, 1941. It discloses that there was a completely harmonious relationship between Amy and her parents from her childhood up to the time of her father’s death in 1946. During her school years she spent her summers, holidays and vacations at the family farm, and her custom of extended and continuous visits with her parents continued into her later life, when first she taught school in Maine and New Hampshire, and thereafter when she and her husband were living in Berlin, New Hampshire. As she herself testified, “I was there (in Bremen) almost more than I was in Berlin * * * all holidays, in the spring to help with the work, and several weeks in the summer,” and she “never failed” to go to her family home at Christmas vacation time, and while at Bremen, she would “clean house, did the mending and washing for them, took over.” Mr. Carl W. Buchheister, the President of the National Audubon Society, who first came to know the Nashes in 1935 when he assumed his duties as director of the Audubon camp on nearby Hog Island, testified that he saw Amy at the farm “on the average of about twice a summer,” and that the Nashes spoke of her “quite frequently” in conversations with him.

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Related

Jordan v. Jordan
150 A.2d 763 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1959)
Whittemore v. Russell
14 A. 197 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1888)
Ingraham
105 A. 812 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1919)
Walton v. Roberts
39 A.2d 655 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1944)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
251 F. Supp. 736, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7895, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/palmer-v-lincoln-audubon-society-med-1966.