Buckley v. Hogan
Buckley v. Hogan
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
This appeal involves the construction of the following will:
“Frankfort, Ky., Nov. 2, 1907.
“I leave all of my property to John T. Buckley and his wife, Bridget T. Buckley, to hold in trust and without bond, to collect rents, to pay all taxes, insurance, repairs and improvements and to receive ten per cent, of rents for their trouble, the income after all expenses are paid to be given to my father, James Fitzsimmons, for his lifetime, after his death, house on Ann street, No. 129, given to Mrs. Margaret Buckley Haly and her children, house 131 Ann street, given to Edmond Buckley and his sister, Clara Buckley Chew, home on Main street to be sold. All expenses paid out of this sale, also $200 hundred dollars given to Mrs. May Savage Brown, also my clothing and jewelry to her and her children. $100 (one hundred) given to Rev. N. H. Baker for his school for Orphans, Victorhill, New York.
($50) fifty dollars kept for graves for some years to come, $100 given to different priests for masses, $50 ■to Mrs. Catty Callahan to use for Albert Callahan, her grandson.
($.100) one hundred dollars to Mrs. Mattie W. Driscoll. ' '
$400 for head stones, and if there is any left use their own judgment about it, also $100 to Church of Hood Shepherd of Frankfort.
“Katie Welch Buckley.
“Witness: J. A. Brislan.”
If the lot passed under the will it is because it was included in the last item, and in this expression: “$400 for head stones, and if there is any left use their own judgment about it.” It is argued that the reading of that clause should be “if there is any property left,” etc. This argument is based on the law’s presumption that a testator intended to dispose of his whole estate. It concedes that1 the words, unaided, and in connection alone with the context of the will, did not embrace the lot. It is also argued, that as ample and careful, provision was made for the testatrix’s father by her giving him a life estate iu all her property, including this lot, she could not have intended either to enlarge that estate by an ambiguity of expression, or by failing to dispose of the remainder. The presumption against intestacy is only a rule of construction, invoked to aid in interpreting the words of the will. If with the presumption in mind, the words used by the testator in his will are clearly referable to other subjects than that of the property omitted, the presumption has no further place in the construction; it has served its office. Viewing the entire document in question here, one is forced to the conclusion that the testatrix did not intend to- make appellants, John T. Buckley and his wife, the beneficiaries of her.will at all, further than their fees for attending to her business in executing it. They are named as trus
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.