Wellbrook v. Otten

35 Misc. 459, 71 N.Y.S. 937
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 15, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 35 Misc. 459 (Wellbrook v. Otten) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wellbrook v. Otten, 35 Misc. 459, 71 N.Y.S. 937 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1901).

Opinion

Russell, J.

The payment of the legacies of $15,000 and $8,000 to the plaintiff and John Hnlseberg is resisted by the relatives of the deceased wife of the testator, Cónrad Hnlseberg, except so far as the personalty paid about two-fifths of each. For full payment a resort to the realty becomes necessary. The extrinsic circumstances furnish the evidence that these legacies are largely ineffective unless the intention of the testator was to charge them upon the realty. The court must, therefore, be guided in the construction of the will by its intrinsic expression and extrinsic application.

The first two disposing clauses of the will are as follows:

First. After my lawful debts are paid, I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved brother, now residing in Germany, the full sum of eight thousand dollars, to be paid to him after the decease of my beloved wife Maria Hnlseberg.

“ I also give, devise and bequeath to my beloved ’ adopted daughter, Lena Henrietta Wellbrook (wife of John H. Well-brook), the full sum of fifteen thousand dollars, to be paid to-her after the decease of my beloved wife, Maria Hnlseberg.”

Then, after giving a cemetery lot to the plaintiff, the testator gave, devised and bequeathed to his wife, Maria, all the rest, residue and remainder of his property, real, personal or mixed, and appointed her executrix. The will was executed May 4, 1888,, six years before'the testator’s death. On the 28th of August, 1894, twenty-five days before he died, he executed a codicil reaffirming my last will and testament, bearing date the fourth day of May, 1888,” by which he declared that the net income of the sums given to Hnlseberg and the plaintiff should go to and be used by his wife during her natural life.

It will, therefore, be observed that, within the limits fixed by him, the testator clearly intended to give to John Hnlseberg and the plaintiff the full sums named without abatement or impairment from any cause whatever; that his wife should enjoy the income of these sums, as well as the rest of the property during her life, so that her interests did not conflict with the payment of the legacies named unless she should be in such want as to-[461]*461require absorption of part of the realty — a contingency evidently not contemplated by the testator; and he gives the title to the rest of his property, specifically naming his realty, to his wife absolutely.

The testator, therefore, expressly declared that his wife should only take his real and personal property after the $23,000 of legacies were carved out as there was nothing else to which the term “ rest, residue and remainder ” could apply except the trifling devise of the cemetery lot. To give to the relatives of the wife now, through her testamentary disposition, the realty left by the testator, would adjudge that the testator did not intend that the wife should take the rest, residue and remainder after the payment of the legacies, but that such residue should be enhanced by the amount of the deficiency between the sum total of the legacies and the net amount of his personal property after payment of debts, taxes and expenses of administration. If the testator had so intended he would plainly have said that he devised his realty to his wife and any balance of his personalty remaining after payment of the legacies.

The extrinsic application of the facts, which discloses the failure of the personalty to provide sufficient means for the payment of the legacies, also discloses strong confirmatory presumptions that the testator meant to provide for full payment of the legacies. The testator in dictating his will necessarily acted upon his own consciousness and perception of the situation as it existed. He was an old man retired from business and an invalid from about the time the will was made. His union with Mrs. Hulseberg had proved childless and neither had any descendants. He had taken the plaintiff when but a few months old and reared her as he would a daughter, both he and his wife giving her the appellation of adopted daughter. She stood to both of them as a -child and had no other home than theirs, until she was married. Apart from his wife there was no one so close to him in the tender ties of daily companionship and deliberately assumed fathership. He took no steps to legally adopt the plaintiff, doubtless knowing that he meant to provide for her by testament. There seems to have been no interruption in his loving regard for the plaintiff. The other legatee was his only brother and next of kin. Presumptively he knew that his widow would be lef-fc with a larger fortune than that which he possessed. He died [462]*462September 22, 1894; she, three years later, Rovember 6, 1897. Her personalty inventoried $37,967.30 and her realty $15,000 over and above that which she received from him. Ro one appears to have been dependent upon her, and there is no evidence tending to show any substantial change in the amount of her means from the time of his death till her own, except as she received from his estate. All of the testator’s realty was acquired ten years or more before his own death so that there was no change by him from personalty into realty after the making of his will. Eds personalty was inventoried by the widow as executrix as composed of two mortgages of the value of $11,030 and $96 of household furniture set aside for the widow, and the inventory was duly verified by her. The plaintiff also testifies that this was the extent of the personalty left by the deceased testator. This personalty was reduced by taxes and expenses of administration to $9,339.74, so that the adopted daughter received only $6,663.42, and the brother John .$3,553.82. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary it might fairly be inferred that no substantial change existed as to the amount of the testator’s personalty from the date of his will until his death, but the codicil affords all the certainty required upon this subject. That codicil was made twenty-five days before he died, and in evident contemplation that death might soon come to this invalid. He reaffirms the provisions of the will and emphasizes his wish that the widow should receive the income of all until her death. He thus readopts the provisions of the former will, as speaking from the date of the codicil, and in view of the then existing situation of his property both personal and real. He was presumably aware that his personalty would pay only about two-fifths of the legacies which he thus reasserted he desired to be fully paid to> the legatees after the death of his wife. It would be attributing to the testator a spirit of mockery to suppose that he meant to give these legatees only $9,000 when he solemnly declared that he wished them to receive the full sum of $23,000.

It is a just rule that, where a testator bequeaths legacies and devises his realty, the devisee should not suffer because of a misconception by the testator of the amount of his personalty, and that the legatees must be content with the amounts they actually receive as though those bequests were of specific personal property. But there is no question here as to impaired benefits to the [463]*463wife who was the residuary devisee. He has distinctly asserted that he wished her to take such devise subject to the payment of the legacies in full, and has guarded against the effect of such-wish by giving her the income not only of the realty but of the personalty itself. He puts off the day when these legacies shall be paid until that wife shall no longer have need of anything in this life, and when all that she has must pass into hands alien to-himself.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re the Judicial Settlement of the Account of Proceedings of Armeny
120 Misc. 505 (New York Surrogate's Court, 1923)
In re the Construction of the Last Will & Testament of Mould
117 Misc. 1 (New York Surrogate's Court, 1921)
Freifeld v. Mankowski
37 Misc. 303 (New York Supreme Court, 1902)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
35 Misc. 459, 71 N.Y.S. 937, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wellbrook-v-otten-nysupct-1901.