Schuck v. Schuck

156 N.E.2d 351, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 394, 7 Ohio Op. 2d 198, 1958 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 315
CourtHamilton County Probate Court
DecidedSeptember 12, 1958
DocketNo. 2096
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 156 N.E.2d 351 (Schuck v. Schuck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hamilton County Probate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schuck v. Schuck, 156 N.E.2d 351, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 394, 7 Ohio Op. 2d 198, 1958 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 315 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1958).

Opinion

OPINION

By DAVIES, J.:

This matter came before the Court upon a petition to determine heirship filed by Erwin Schuck, executor of the estate of Arthur Schuck, deceased.

Arthur Schuck, a resident of Hamilton County, died on September 3, 1957. His will, after making two monetary bequests, provided as follows:

“Item 4. All the rest and residue of my estate, real, personal and mixed, wheresoever situated, which I may own or have the right to dispose of at the time of my death, I give, devise and bequeath to my sister-in-law, Bertha R. Schuck, widow of my deceased brother Frank Schuck, and my brother Erwin Schuck, both of Cincinnati, Ohio, same to be theirs share and share alike, absolutely and in fee simple.”

Arthur Schuek’s next of kin were two nieces, Margaret Schuck and Dorothy Schuck Steinman, children of his said brother, Frank Schuck, who died in January, 1952, a brother, Erwin Schuck, and a niece, Hilda Arnold, the child of testator’s sister, Flora, who predeceased him. His sister-in-law, the aforementioned Bertha R. Schuck, survived him by one day, having died on September 4, 1957.

Margaret Schuck and Dorothy Schuck Steinman claim that they are entitled to one-half of the residue of testator’s estate under the provisions of §2107.52 R. C., which became effective on October 1, 1953, and which provides as follows:

“When a devise of real or personal estate is made to a relative of a testator and such relative was dead at the time the will was made, or dies thereafter, leaving issue surviving the testator, such issue shall take the estate devised as the devisee would have done if he had survived the testator. If the testator devised a residuary estate or the entire estate after debts, other legacies and devises, general or specific, or an interest less than a fee or absolute ownership to such devisee and relatives of the testator and such devisee leaves no issue, the estate devised shall vest in such other devisees surviving the testator in such proportions as the testamentary share of each devisee in the devised property bears to the total of the shares of all of the surviving devisees, unless a different disposition is made or required by the will.”

Prior to October 1, 1953, the statute (then §10504-73 GC, and before [397]*397that, §5971 R. S.), provided that when a devise of real or personal estate was made to a child or other relative of the testator, if such child or other relative was dead at the time the will was made, or died thereafter, leaving issue surviving the testator, in either case such issue would take the estate devised as the devisee would have done, if he had survived the testator. (Emphasis ours.)

Margaret Schuck and Dorothy Schuck Steinman’s claims depend upon the statutory meaning of the word “relative” found in the above statutes.

The Supreme Court of Ohio, in the case of Schaefer et al. v. Bernhardt et al., 76 Oh St 443, 81 N. E. 640, considered a case in which Catherine Schaefer died in June, 1902, leaving a will dated October 9, 1899, which left her whole estate to her husband, Ludwig Schaefer, who died in the year 1900,- leaving children by a former marriage. The decedent, Catherine, was survived by a brother, sister, and children of a predeceased brother as her sole surviving heirs at law. The husband’s children claimed that the devise did not lapse because of the provisions of §5971 R. S., which provided that “when a devise of real or personal estate is made to any child or other relative of the testator, if such child or other relative shall have been dead at the time of the making of the will, or shall die thereafter, leaving issue surviving the testator, in either case such issue shall take the estate devised in the same manner as the devisee would have done, if he had survived the testator.” The court held “the phrase ‘other relative’ should, in accordance with the maxim noscitur a sociis, be restricted to relationships of the character indicated by the associated word ‘child,’ and regarded as including those which are consanguineous, but excluding those which are affinitive merely,” and the court further held that “notwithstanding the statute, a devise of real estate by a wife to her husband will lapse if his death precedes hers, although he leaves issue of a former marriage surviving the testatrix.” (Emphasis ours.)

The children of the husband contended that the word “relative” in the statute included relations which were affinitive as well as those which were consanguineous. The court (p. 447) stated that lexicographical definitions could be found to support the view that the word “relative” meant blood relative, or could mean either relations by blood or affinity. The court, however, stated that “in the making of laws words which have an established legal meaning are used with reference to that meaning, and a resort to the decisions will do much to remove the doubt in which the subject in hand would be left by the wide diversity of the meaning of the word in popular use. An examination of the cases — shows that, the question not being affected by the context or by related provisions, the decisions have quite uniformly regarded the word in statutes of this character as applying only to those who are related by consanguinity to the testator.” The court (p. 448) did say that if the word “child” had been omitted from the statute, a stronger case against lapsing could have been urged with much greater force, but the court then concluded its opinion with the following statement: “This (§5971 R. S.), is not a remedial statute suggestive of aims for [398]*398whose accomplishment the most comprehensive meanings of its terms should, if necessary, be adopted. It is a statute defining rights in property, and for that purpose introducing a rule which is in direct conflict with that which had previously applied to cases of like character. Its operation should, therefore, be no broader than is justified by the clearly expressed intention of the legislature. Another reason of weight favors the commonly accepted view of the subject. Throughout our statutes of descent and distribution obvious consideration is given to the law of nature by which our highest regard and chief concern are for those who are bound to us by the ties of blood. Devolution of title will be in accordance with that rule if the word ‘relative’ in this connection is taken in its legal sense, the subject of the devise passing as intestate property, there being no other disposition contingent upon the death of the devisee prior to that of the testator.”

Although the word “relatives” or “relations” has a common meaning which includes all persons who are in any way related by consanguinity, the general rule, followed in Ohio, is that, when used in a will, the words are presumed to have been used in their restricted sense, so as to mean relatives or relations who are heirs or next of kin of the testator, who would take his estate under the statutes of descent and distribution, in the absence of an apparent intent to the contrary. 41 O. Jur. 685, Section 568; 3 Page on Wills, 161, Section 1030.

Courts have uniformly held that, in statutes which provide that a devise made to a “child or other relative” of the testator, the phrase “child or other relative” means relation by blood, equivalent to kindred, and does not include relation by affinity. Thus, in the case of Cleaver v. Cleaver et al., 39 Wise. Rep.

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Related

In Re Estate of Haese
259 N.W.2d 54 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1977)
Kovar v. Kortan
209 N.E.2d 762 (Cuyahoga County Probate Court, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 N.E.2d 351, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 394, 7 Ohio Op. 2d 198, 1958 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schuck-v-schuck-ohprobcthamilto-1958.