Reeder v. Antrim

110 N.E. 568, 64 Ind. App. 83, 1915 Ind. App. LEXIS 249
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 9, 1915
DocketNo. 8,809
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 110 N.E. 568 (Reeder v. Antrim) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reeder v. Antrim, 110 N.E. 568, 64 Ind. App. 83, 1915 Ind. App. LEXIS 249 (Ind. Ct. App. 1915).

Opinions

Felt, P. J.

This was a suit to quiet title to 145 acres of real estate in Marion county, Indiana. The ques[87]*87tions involved depend for solution on the construction of the will of Emma Antrim, the deceased wife of appellee. Issues were joined on a complaint in five paragraphs. On request the court made a special finding of facts and stated its conclusions of law, which were in favor of appellee and judgment was rendered thereon accordingly. The errors assigned question the court’s rulings on the demurrer to the complaint, in overruling appellants’ motion to modify the judgment and for a new trial, and also allege that the court erred in each of its conclusions of law.

The special finding of facts» is in substance as follows: That Emma Antrim died September 10, 1909, in Marion county, Indiana, testate, the owner of the real estate in controversy; that she left no “descendants and neither father nor mother living at that time, but left surviving her as her only heir at law her husband,” the appellee; that her will was duly probated. The will, which is set out in full in the finding, makes provision for the payment of her debts, funeral expenses and the erection of a monument. It mentions her brothers and sisters and states that they have been provided for in the will of her mother and that she gives them nothing, except her brother James E. Rowney, who has accumulated no property, for whom she makes provision for support in certain contingencies.

Items Nos. 5 and 6 of the will are as follows:

“Item 5. I give, bequeath and devise to my beloved husband, Charles J. Antrim, for and during the term of his natural life, all my property both real and personal, which shall remain after the carrying out of the provisions of this testament, in lieu of his rights in my estate as my widower under the statutes and the law of the State, subject, however, to the charge upon his said life estate in item 4 of this instrument in favor of my brother James E. Rowney.
Item 6. At the death of my beloved husband, I [88]*88give all my estate both real and personal, to the children of my nephew, Isaac Reeder, who shall survive my husband, but said property shall not be sold by them or any of them until after ten years after my husband’s death, at which time their title shall be a fee simple, subject, however,-at all times to the charge created at item 4 of this will in favor of my brother James E. Rowney.”

The court also finds that on September 20, 1909, appellee duly filed his written notice of his intention to take under the law and his declination to take- under the provisions of the will; that James E. Rowney died before the death of the testatrix; that Isaac Reeder mentioned in item No. 6 of the will survived the testatrix ; that appellants are the only living children of said Isaac Reeder and the only children born to him; that appellee has at all times since the death of his wife been in the exclusive possession of the real estate in controversy ; that the estate of the testatrix has been duly administered and settled according to law.

1. Appellants’ briefs present only the question of the alleged error of the court in its conclusions of law. The other assignments of error are therefore waived. Kaufman v. Alexander (1913), 180 Ind. 670, 671, 103 N. E. 481; Leach v. State (1911), 177 Ind. 234, 239, 97 N. E. 792; Wellington v. Reynolds (1911), 177 Ind. 49, 55, 97 N. E. 155.

In substance, the trial court held that the testatrix did not intend to devise the real estate in fee simple to appellants until the expiration of ten years after the death of appellee, her husband; that such attempted devise of a fee-simple title to appellants is in conflict with the statute of perpetuities and void; that appellee is the owner in fee simple of one-third of the real estate in controversy and of a life estate in the two-thirds part thereof; that the appellants who shall survive appellee are contingent remaindermen, and will be the [89]*89owners of a life estate in such two-thirds part thereof; that appellee is the owner of the fee-simple title to the two-thirds part of said real estate, by descent as heir of his deceased wife, Emma Antrim, subject to the contingent right of appellants therein as above stated.

Appellee has assigned cross-errors by which he questions the correctness of the conclusions of law in so far as they give any interest to appellants and under which they contend that item No. 6 of the will is void and that appellee is the owner in fee simple as sole heir of his wife of all the real estate in controversy.

The gist of appellants’ contention is that the intention of the testatrix was to give appellants a fee-simple title to her real estate, subject to the life estate of appellee; that the provision of item No, 6 denying appellants the right of alienation for ten years subsequent to appellee’s death is a limitation on the use and enjoyment of the estate and does not render the devise void as being in conflict with the statute of perpetuities; that if such restriction of the right of alienation is void it does not invalidate the devise.

In support of these contentions appellants invoice certain rules of construction, viz.: (1) We are required to ascertain and carry into effect the intent of the testatrix where it can be done, without disregarding or overruling some established rule of law, and in ascertaining intent we must consider all the provisions of the will. (2) The presumption is against intestacy as to any part of the estate where a will has been made, and where there is no devise over of the residue of- the estate it aids the court in determining that the testatrix intended to devise all of the estate. (8) The law favors the vesting of estates at the earliest possible time consistent with the provisions of the will. (4) The law presumes that the testatrix did not intend to violate the rule against perpetuities, (5) Adverbs of time used in a will gen[90]*90erally refer to the time of the enjoyment of the estate devised and not to the time of its vesting.

Appellee admits that the will evidences an intention of the testatrix to devise an estate to appellants but asserts that in this suit neither appellants nor appellee are seeking to carry into effect such expressed intention ; that appellants are seeking to avoid and annul the clearly expressed intention to deny them the right and power of alienation for ten years after the death of appellee; that in electing to take under the law appellee acted within his legal rights; that the intention to deny appellants the right of alienation for ten years after appellee’s death is as clearly expressed as the intention to devise them an estate; that the restriction on the right of alienation is not a limitation on the use and enjoyment of the estate, but clearly and definitely takes from appellants one of the essential elements of a fee-simple title and violates the rule against perpetuities.

There is no controversy in the case as to the general rules employed in the construction of wills, but the contentions of the parties are sharply divergent as to the meaning and effect of the provisions of the will and the rules of law_ applicable thereto.

2. The chief object in construing a will is to ascertain from the language of the instrument the intention of the testator.

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Reeder v. Antrim
110 N.E. 568 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 N.E. 568, 64 Ind. App. 83, 1915 Ind. App. LEXIS 249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reeder-v-antrim-indctapp-1915.