Ingersol v. Vinton
Ingersol v. Vinton
Opinion of the Court
W. S. Yan Orsdol died in March, 1909, and left surviving him his widow and their infant child, Jeanette Yan Orsdol, and his daughter by a former marriage, this plaintiff, now Minnie Ingersol. Soon afterwards Jeanette Yan Orsdol died in infancy, and a few days later the widow also died. The defendant, Elizabeth Yinton, as the surviving heir of Nrs. Yan Orsdol, claims the share of Mr. Yan Orsdol’s estate which was inherited by the infant, Jeanette. The plaintiff, Minnie Ingersol, claims the share of the estate inherited by Jeanette, as her sister and the sole surviving child of their father, from whom Jeanette inherited the property. The district court held that the widow, Jeanette’s mother, inherited her interest in the property, and the sister, Minnie Tngersol, has appealed.
Some other matters were presented by the record, but the only question discussed in the briefs is whether the
The statute, governing is section 2, ch. 23, Comp. St. 1911, which is as follows: “When any person leaving no husband nor wife surviving, shall die, seized of any real estate, or any right thereto, or entitled to any interest therein, in fee simple, or for the life of another, not having lawfully devised the same, it shall descend, subject to his debts, in the manner following: First. In equal share to his children, and to the lawful issue of any deceased child by the right of representation; and if there be no child of the deceased living at his death, the estate shall descend to all his other lineal descendants; and if all the said descendants are in the same degree of kindred to the deceased, they shall have the estate equally; otherwise they shall take according to the right of representation. Second. If the deceased shall leave no' issue, the estate shall descend to the father and mother of the deceased or to the survivor of them. Third. If the deceased ’ shall leave no issue, nor father nor mother, the estate shall descend in equal shares to his brothers and sisters, and to the children of any deceased brother or sister, by the right of representation. Fourth. If the deceased shall leave no issue, nor father nor mother nor' brother nor sister, the estate shall descend to his next of kin in equal degree, excepting that where there are two or more collateral kindred in equal degree but claiming through different ancestors, those who claim through the nearest ancestor shall be preferred to those claiming through an ancestor more remote: Provided, however, Fifth. If any person shall die leaving several children, or leaving one child and the issue of one or more other children, and any such surviving child shall die under age and not having been married, all the estate that came to the deceased child by inheritance from such deceased parent, shall descend, in equal shares, to the other children of the same parent, and to the issue of any such children who shall have died, by the right of representation. Sixth. If, at the death of such
The solution of this question depends upon the meaning and effect of the fifth and sixth subdivisions of the section. They were first enacted by the territorial legislature of 1855 and 1856. 1 Complete Session Laws, p. 263. These two subdivisions have been retained without change in all of the subsequent amendments of the laws of descent of property. Section 176, ch. 14, Bev. St. 1866, after making allowances for the temporary support of the widow and minor children, provided that in the distribution of the residue of the personal property the widow should receive the same share as the child of the intestate. By the enactment of our present statute in 1907 (laws 1907, ch. 49; Comp. St. 1911, ch. 23, sec. 176) it is provided that the residue of the personal estate shall be distributed the same as real estate. So that before the act of 1907 the widow inherited personal property as one of the children, but by that act, when the husband or wrife died, the survivor has an interest in the property of the deceased by virtue of the marriage relation. By the present act the share of the property of the intestate which is taken' by the surviving husband or wife is definitely fixed. By the first subdivision of section 1, ch. 23, Comp. St. 1911, if the surviving husband or wife is not the parent of all the children of the decedent, he or she takes one-fourth part of the intestate’s estate, but by the second and third subdivisions, if the survivor is the parent of all the children of the decedent, and there be two or more children,
The seventh subdivision of section 2, above quoted, provides for escheat to the state when there is no one to inherit. The first four subdivisions provide generally for all cases where there is no surviving husband or wife. These four subdivisions are followed by “Provided, however,” and are all limited, modified and explained by the proviso contained in the next two subdivisions, which complete the subject of the distribution of intestate estates when there is any one to inherit them. These two subdivisions are connected by the words “such child” in the sixth, and together compose one provision limiting all that part of the section which they follow and of which they are a part. The second subdivision, “If the deceased shall leave no issue, the estate shall descend to the father and mother of the deceased or to the survivor of them,” is limited by the proviso, and is only operative when the conditions specified in the proviso do not exist.
This construction of the statute is necessary for another reason. If the fifth and sixth subdivisions of the section had been enacted independently, and not as a proviso, they would be special provisions applying to special circumstances not provided for or mentioned in the general provision for the descent and distribution of property. Gen
The statute places the share that this infant inherited where it would have gone if she had died before, instead of shortly after, her father. This purpose of the statute is stated by the supreme court of Massachusetts’, as follows: “The whole purpose is the descent of intestate estate; and we think the effect is that, where upon the descent of an estate to children, one of them shall happen to die in infancy, that is, at any time before arriving at the age at which, by law, he has the power of disposing of his estate, and before he has by marriage contracted obligations and established neAV connections which change his relative situation to others, his share of the inheritance, that is, his portion of the intestate estate, for the descent of which this statute is now providing, shall go
In Estate of De Castro v. Barry, 18 Cal. 97, the statute being entirely, equivalent to ours, the court said: “The clause in question (our fifth subdivision) provides for a specific and peculiar state of facts; therefore, there is no contradiction between it and the general provisions going before, for these last provide the usual rule, while the latter clause provides the unusual rule, or the rule governing the particular case recited. This is not a contradiction, but only an exception. * * * The meaning being clear, probably it is not very important to inquire into the considerations which moved the legislature to make a different disposition of the property characterized in the seventh clause, and property otherwise coming to
In Estate of Donahue, 36 Cal. 329, the former holding of the court is not questioned, but it was held that if the estate came to the deceased child by devise the statute did not apply. See, also, Sheffield v. Lovering, 12 Mass. *489; Goodrich v. Adams, 138 Mass. 552; Runey v. Edmands, 15 Mass. *291.
The defendant relies upon Rice v. Saxon, 28 Neb. 380, Gwyer v. Hall, 34 Neb. 589, and Shellenberger v. Ransom, 31 Neb. 61, rehearing, 41 Neb. 631. In Rice v. Saxon, supra, the husband died leaving two children and a widow, who was the parent of one of the children, a son, the other being a child of a former marriage. The son died unmarried and without issue, and it was held that the estate which he inherited from his father “descended in equal proportions to the mother and sister of said son.”
In Gwyer v. Hall, supra, when Mr. Hall died, he left a widow, and afterwards a son was born. Mr. Hall left no other children or issue of any deceased child. Therefore the statute that we are now construing had no application, and the mother inherited from her son under the fourth subdivision of section 30 of the decedent, law, as it existed under the Revised Statutes of 1866.
In Shellenberger v. Ransom, supra, when Mrs. Shellenberger died she left two children, who were also the chil
The infant, Jeanette, having died “under age and not having been married,” all the estate that came to her by inheritance from her father goes to this plaintiff, his surviving child.
The judgment of the district court is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings.
Reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re Estate of Jeanette Van Orsdol. Minnie Ingersol v. Elizabeth Vinton
- Status
- Published