Patterson v. Hutchison
Patterson v. Hutchison
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
In. this case the husband bought and paid for the land and had the legal tifie conveyed to himself in trust for the separate and exclusive use of his wife and of the children of her body during her life and after her death, the remainder for said children.
Constructively, the right of the children was a remainder only. The separate use during their mother’s life (meaning separate from her husband) could not reasonably apply to them, and if it could, it would have been incongruous and absurd to give to them a freehold estate for life, and then add to it the remainder in fee simple. Consequently, the mother was entitled to hold the whole usufruct during her life.
And, under the authority of the 17 th section of Oh. 47, Art. 4,
But the circuit court construing her interest as only one-sixth of the life estate, jointly with her five children, limited the sale to that sixth.
This we adjudge erroneous.
Wherefore, the judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded for a decree subjecting to sale- the entire life estate.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.