Commonwealth ex rel. Beelman v. Shelby
Commonwealth ex rel. Beelman v. Shelby
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This action, in substance, was in the nature of a bill in equity to administer the assets of Andrew Sheely, the testator, under the facts stated, to which, for the sake of brevity, I refer.
Both parties were dissatisfied with the decision, and both have taken out writs of error; Beelman and his wife contending, that the personal estate and the devised lands constitute the fund for the payment of legacies-and of all other debts, while Andrew Sheely, John Sheely, and Nicholas Kreutzer contend, that the descended land is the first fund, and that neither the personal estate, nor the devised land can be resorted to until that is exhausted. The specific legacy to the widow, cannot be touched until the whole estate devised and descended, has been applied to the discharge of the debts. The vendees, who hold the testator’s bond for the purchase money of land conveyed to him after the execution of his will, hold no specific lien on this land; though in England it would seem that they would. It is a rule in marshalling of assets, where the court have any foundation to go upon, to mar-shall the assets so as that all parties may have satisfaction; for nemo ex allerius detrimento fieri debet locupletio. Francis’s Max. 3; and no man’s right ever should be allowed to he exercised in a manner prejudicial to the rights of others. Hence it is, that if
It is further to be recollected, that every devise of lands is in its nature specific, and that the favour which is to be extended to the heir, is not to defeat the disposition of the testator. The personal assets, unless otherwise provided for by the will, is the primary fund. In Pennsylvania, where the testator has blended his real and personal estate, the rveal estate is subjected to the bur-then of the legacies on a deficiency of personal estate. Tucker v. Hassenclever, 3 Yeates, 294 2 Binn. Appen. 525. Witmer v. Norton, 6 Binn. 395. And we may further state, that where there is a general bequest of a legacy, and there is a deficiency of personal assets to pay debts and legacies, the balance of the legacy is payable out of the real estate, unless there is a reservation in the bequest, or some manifest intention to confine the charge either to one estate or the other. Nichols v. Postelthwaite, 2 Dall. 131.
Applying these principles to the case under consideration, then, this is the case of lands devised, subject not by the provisions of the will, but in this state subject by the law to a general charge of debts, as much as if made so by the provisions of the testator. The testator had not the present state of things iq contemplation. He had no intention about any real estate he might afterwards acquire, or the éxtinction or lapse of any devise by the death of the devisee in his lifetime. So far as his views then extended, it was his intention that his sons should take the real and personal estate, after payment of his debts and the legacies to his daughters. He had then six sons, and he devises specific portions of land to each of them. He directs his executors to sell his personal estate, and pay his debts, and divide the money between his six sons, share and share alike. If the construction be, that the estates devised to his sons shall be applied to the payment of the purchase money of the descended lands, the design and plan of the testator is entirely frustrated: if these debts are to be paid out of this land, either in whole or in part, the specific devisees of the land are either totally or partially deprived of that which their father intended for them, and the daughters get what their father never intended they should get: every object of the testator would be defeated. This would be contrary to first principles, and to every rule of a court of equity in marshalling assets, whose object is to satisfy every claimant on the assets of the deceased, so far as that can be effected by any arrangement consistent with the claims of creditors and the intention of the testator.
A consideration of all the cases, with their distinctions, some of which are nice enough, will produce a conviction, that descended
The court are of opinion, that the following is the coux’se in which the assets are to be administered:
1.. That the specific bequest to the widow is to be made of the personal estate.
2. That the personal estate is then to be applied to the payment of legacies and all the debts of the testator.
3. That to the balance remaining, after the application of the personal estate, the lands descended are to be first applied; and, if they should prove deficient, then—
4. The lands devised; and x'everse the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas, and direct judgment to be entered accordingly.
In this mode of administei’ing the assets, justice will be done to all, and the intention of the testator observed. In any other mode the whole object of the testator would be fi’ustrated. The principle of casting the payment of the debts equally on the devised and descended lauds, is so contrary to all justice, that it would be' incumbent on the party maintaining.it to px-oduce some authority or rule in support of his position: he has done neither, — the settled doctrine is quite different, and such as I have stated.
Judgment reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The Commonwealth, for the use of BEELMAN and wife against SHELBY and others SHELBY and others against The Commonwealth, for the use of BEELMAN and wife
- Status
- Published