Smith v. Baldwin

6 Pa. D. & C. 222, 1924 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 414
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Greene County
DecidedAugust 18, 1924
DocketNo. 22
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Pa. D. & C. 222 (Smith v. Baldwin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Greene County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Baldwin, 6 Pa. D. & C. 222, 1924 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 414 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1924).

Opinion

Ray, P. J.,

By virtue of the above-mentioned writ of fieri facias, at No. 22, June Term, 1923, the sheriff levied on and sold, as the property of the defendants in the writ, a certain tract of land, situate in Richhill Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, for the price or sum of $4000. On Sept. 10, 1923, the sheriff returned the said writ, together with a schedule of distribution, which was confirmed nisi. Thereupon Ella M. Sowers, claiming to be a judgment creditor of the defendant, I. C. Baldwin, filed exceptions [223]*223to the sheriff’s schedule of distribution, and especially to his distribution to W. H. Hagans and I. H. Isleman, based on foreign attachment at No. 98, March Term, 1923, and to G. F. Watson and F. J. Watson, based on foreign attachment at No. 99, March Term, 1923. The several parties in interest, by their attorneys, in the nature of a ease stated, have agreed upon the facts upon which the court is to determine the question at issue between them. The question to be determined by the court will appear from the case stated, which is as follows:

“The parties to this case stated, by their attorneys, agree to the following facts:

“1. That Susannah Baldwin, of Cameron, Marshall County, West Virginia, died Jan. 27, 1922, leaving a last will and testament, dated Aug. 11, 1921, after her death duly proved and registered in the Office of the Clerk of the County Court of the said County of Marshall and State of West Virginia, and a duly certified copy of which said will was filed Feb. 15, 1922, in the Register’s Office of Greene County, Pennsylvania, in Will Book vol. 15, page 480, a copy of which said will is. hereto attached as a part hereof and marked ‘Exhibit A.’
“2. That at the time of her death the said Susannah Baldwin was seized, inter alia, of the hereinafter described real estate, against which had been filed as a lien prior to her death the above stated judgment at No. 117, December Term, 1920.
“3. That in and by the said last will and testament the said testatrix devised, in paragraph fourth thereof, as follows: ‘Fourth. I give, devise and bequeath to my son, I. C. Baldwin, the farm on which he resided before he moved to Cameron, West Virginia; said farm being situated on the south side of Wheeling Creek, in Richhill Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, and adjoins the Parson farm and others. The said I. C. Baldwin to be charged with all debts that have been contracted for his benefit;’ and that this farm was sold under the above execution.
“4. That on April 4, 1918, the said I. C. Baldwin and the said Susannah Baldwin duly executed and delivered to Ella M. Sowers, of Richhill Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, a judgment exemption note in the sum' of five hundred ($500.00) dollars, payable six months after date, with interest; that the said note was contracted for, and the proceeds of the said note was used solely for, the benefit of I. C. Baldwin; and that judgment was entered on the said note at No. 71, September Term, 1923, in the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County, Pennsylvania, against the said I. C. Baldwin, surviving Susannah Baldwin, deceased.
“5. That no payments were ever made upon the said note, and that at the time of the death of the said Susannah Baldwin, the amount of the said note and interest as aforesaid were due and owing to Ella M. Sowers.
“6. That Dan W. Phillips and A. M. Nichols, his attorney, both had notice that Ella M. Sowers claimed that the debt evidenced by her said note was a charge upon the land sold under and by virtue of the writ of fieri facias at the above number and term-, but not until after the sale; and that request was made to them prior to the return of said sale that her debt be paid in full out of the proceeds of said sale before the payment of any debt of the said I. C. Baldwin, for which the said Susannah Baldwin was not surety, other than the one entered before Susannah Baldwin’s death, at No. 117, December Term, 1920.
“The following question is, therefore, submitted for the determination of your honorable court:
[224]*224“1. Whether or not the said note of Ella M. Sowers is made a charge upon the land devised to the said I. C. Baldwin in paragraph ‘fourth’ of the will of the said Susannah Baldwin?
“If the court shall be of the opinion that it was the intention of the said testatrix to make the payment of the said note a charge upon the land so devised to I. C. Baldwin in paragraph ‘fourth’ of the said will as aforesaid, then the exceptions filed in the above styled case are to be sustained, and the schedule of distribution amended so that, after payment of the judgment upon which the said property was sold — judgment in favor of Samuel M. Smith and Charity M. Smith, at No. 117, December Term, 1920 — together with costs and taxes, that there be next applied, from the balance remaining for distribution, to the debt of the said Ella M. Sowers a sum sufficient, to wit, $693.60, to pay the same in full, debt, interest and costs, and that the balance distributed, pro rata, to the judgments on foreign attachments at No, 98, March Term, 1923, and No. 99, March Term, 1923, in the said Court of Common Pleas of Greene County, Pennsylvania.
“If the court shall be of the opinion that the debt of the said Ella M. Sowers had not been made, and was not at the time of the said sale a charge upon the land so sold as aforesaid, then the said exceptions to be dismissed. Costs to be paid by losing party. With the right, and it is hereby reserved to each or either of the parties hereto, to appeal from the decision of the court.”

This case stated-is signed by O. R. Hughes, attorney for Ella M. Sowers, exceptant; and by A. M. Nichols, attorney for W. H. Hagans and I. W. Isleman, No. 98, March Term, 1923, and as attorney for G. F. Watson and F. J. Watson, No. 99, March Term, 1923.

The only question submitted by the case stated is whether or not Susannah Baldwin, by her last will and testament, dated Aug. 11, 1921, made the indebtedness evidenced by the note given by I. C. Baldwin, her son, and herself, dated April 4. 1918, to Ella M. Sowers, the exceptant, a charge upon the tract of land devised to her said son, the proceeds of which tract of land are now for distribution. If the testatrix did make the said note a charge upon the said tract of land devised to her said son, then the exceptions to the sheriff’s distribution should be sustained and the schedule of distribution amended accordingly.

In the interpretation of a will, the primary purpose is to ascertain the intention of the testator in relation to the bequest, or devise, called in question. The testator’s intention must govern in every case, if it can be fairly ascertained from the will. The intention may be determined from the language used in making the specific bequest, or devise; or it may be determined from the four corners of the will. That is, from the will, considered in its entirety. A testator either specifically or by implication may make a charge upon land in the hands of his devisee. In Ripple v.

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Bluebook (online)
6 Pa. D. & C. 222, 1924 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 414, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-baldwin-pactcomplgreene-1924.