Whisnand v. Fee

52 N.E. 229, 21 Ind. App. 270, 1898 Ind. App. LEXIS 654
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 14, 1898
DocketNo. 2,641
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 52 N.E. 229 (Whisnand v. Fee) 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
Whisnand v. Fee, 52 N.E. 229, 21 Ind. App. 270, 1898 Ind. App. LEXIS 654 (Ind. Ct. App. 1898).

Opinion

Wiley, J.

This cause was transferred to this court [271]*271by the Supreme Court, and under the statute such transfer is final. The only question presented by the record is the right of appellant, as the widow of John C. Whisnand, to have paid to her the $500 allowed by section 2269, Horner’s R. S. 1897, notwithstanding the fact that she elected to take under the will of her deceased husband. The case was presented to the court below upon an agreed statement of facts, where a judgment was rendered against appellant. She excepted to the judgment, and the question is properly presented for decision. The agreed facts, so far as they are pertinent, are as follows: That John C. Whisnand, died testate August 20, 1897, leaving surviving him his widow (appellant), who was a childless second wife, and Armina Ousler, his only child by a former marriage; that the will of the decedent was duly probated, and appellee was appointed executor and was qualified as such August 31, 1897; that by said will he bequeathed to appellant one note for $750, one note for $200, also $1,250 in cash, also certain real estate, and also certain personal property, describing it. In the agreed statement of facts it also appears from the will, which is copied bodily as part of the facts, that the decedent made certain bequests to his daughter and his grandchildren. The seventh subdivision of the will is as follows: “Seventh.- All the residue of my property, real and personal, not herein disposed of, I hereby give, devise and bequeath to my wife, Margaret Whisnand, and to my grandchildren Golda May and Roy H. Ousler, share and share alike.” It was further agreed that on September 18, 1897, the appellant elected to take under the will, which election was in writing, and duly acknowledged, and filed in the office of the clerk of the Monroe Circuit Court. It was further agreed that after the payment of all specific bequests in said will, and [272]*272all debts of said estate,.that there remains for distribution $2,500, and that on October 23, 1897-, appellant demanded of the executor the payment to her of $500 by virtue of the statute in such cases made and provided. The statute, section 2269, supra, provides that, “the widow of the decedent, whether he dies testate or intestate, may, at any time before the sale, select and take articles therein named [in the inventory] at the appraisement, not exceeding, in the aggregate five hundred dollars.” The statute further provides that if the widow refuses or fails to take all or any part of the articles, etc., she shall be entitled to the deficiency in cash. Under the latter provision of the statute, if the widow does not select the articles inventoried to the value of $500, she is entitled to the residue, or whole amount in cash, out of the first money coming into the hands of the administrator. Leib v. Wilson, 51 Ind. 550. In several cases it has been held that this allowance of $500 to the widow is independent of debts, dower, or testamentary provisions in her favor. Cheek v. Wilson, 7 Ind. 354; Schneider v. Piessner, 54 Ind. 524; Nelson v. Wilson, 61 Ind. 255; Loring v. Craft, 16 Ind. 110; Dunham v. Tappan, 31 Ind. 173; Bratney v. Curry, 33 Ind. 399.

In the case last cited, in discussing the provision of the- statute under consideration, it was held that the right to the sum therein provided gives the widow “a credit for the necessaries of life at once upon the husband’s death, and the means of decent burial should she die before the amount comes to her hands. The statute requires a liberal, instead of a narrow, interpretation, in order to accomplish the purposes of the legislature in enacting it.”

In Langley v. Mayhew, 107 Ind. 198, Nelson v. Wilson, supra, and Whiteman v. Swem, 71 Ind. 530, were criticised, in which the court said: “Some of the cases [273]*273cited, * * * have gone to the extreme limit in holding that widows were respectively entitled to. receive a specific sum of money, under the law, in addition to provisions made for them by their husbands in their wills, and, in consequence, we feel it incumbent upon this court hereafter to limit, rather than extend, the doctrine of these cases.”

In Morrison v. Bowman, 29 Cal. 337, it was held that, if by the general scope of, the will, it appeared that the husband intended to dispose of all the property under his control, half of which, under the law of that state, belonged to his wife, and that the assertion by her of her half interest in the property must defeat the provisions of the will, her acceptance of the provisions of the will was a relinquishment of all claim by her under the law. This, doctrine was quoted with approval by the Supreme Court in Langley v. Mayhew, supra. It is an old rule in equitable jurisprudence to which the administration of estates is closely allied, that a person shall not claim an interest under an instrument, whether it be a deed or will, without giving full effect to such instrument as far as he can. This rule has been treated as one of universal application without exception. It applies to the interests of married women; to the interests of immediate, remote or' contingent; to the interests of value or not of value. Langley v. Mayhew, supra; 2 Maddock Ch. 47; 2 Story Eq. Juris., section 1075; Pom. Eq. Juris., sections 395, 461.

In Shafer v. Shafer, 129 Ind. 394, it was said: “Whatever may have been the rule of construction in this State prior to the decision in the case of Langley v. Mayhew, 107 Ind. 198, it is now settled that where a husband has made specific provision for his widow, and has also disposed of all his other property [274]*274in such a way as to make it apparent that the assertion by the widow of the right to take both under the law and under the will would defeat the manifest purpose of the testator, she will be confined to the provisions made by the will, if she elects to take the provision made for her.

In Hurley v. McIver, 119 Ind. 53, it was held that where a husband made specific provision for his widow, and has disposed of all his other property in such a way as to make it apparent that the assertion by the widow of the right to take both under the law and under the will, would defeat the manifest purpose of the testator, she will be confined to the provision made by the will, after she has effectually elected to take the benefits so provided. In the case last cited, the court, by Mitchell J., said: “While a testator may not have the power to dispose of property which the law casts upon his widow, nor to deprive her of the five hundred dollars to which she is entitled by law, yet if it plainly appears that it was his purpose to do so, and the widow has accepted a testamentary provision made for her, such acceptance is a confirmation of the testamentary disposition, and waives her right under the law.” The court also approves and adheres to the decision in Langley v. Mayhew, supra.

In Snodgrass v. Meeks, 12 Ind. App. 70, in construing section 2269, supra, this court, by Rheinhard, said: “It would seem from the reading of this statute, that the widow is entitled to claim her $500 absolutely, without regard to the fact whether the decedent died testate or intestate.

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Bluebook (online)
52 N.E. 229, 21 Ind. App. 270, 1898 Ind. App. LEXIS 654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whisnand-v-fee-indctapp-1898.