Stahl's Appeal
Stahl's Appeal
Opinion of the Court
— It will scarcely be denied, or even doubted, after reading the will, that the testator intended to give his wife a larger portion of, or interest in, his estate, as long as she should remain his widow, than she should have or enjoy after her marriage, if she married again. This appears plainly from the whole face of the will itself. [His honour here stated it.] The auditor, to whom the account w7as referred by the court below, in his report, allowed to the widow, upon her getting married again, the one-half of all the testator’s personal estate absolutely, in the same manner as if he had died intestate, beside the $200 legacy in addition thereto. “The household furniture and other loose property,” given to her in the first part of the will, amounting in value to $293.68, which she received immediately after the death of the testator, wrere deducted from the whole mass of the personal property before dividing and giving or allowung one-half thereof to the widow7, so that she has thus allowed to her the household furniture, and the $200 legacy, in addition to the one-half of the residue of the whole of the personal estate. Now, I think, it must be apparent to every one, that this, instead of allowing to her a less portion of the testator’s estate, on account of her having married again, as the testator unquestionably intended, would be giving to her a much larger portion thereof than she could have claimed, or would have been entitled to receive, under the will, had she abstained from marrying. By the will, if she had not married again, she could only have claimed and received the interest, annually, upon $3391 58, that sum being the whole amount of the personal estate, after deducting the household furniture, and the expenses attending the administration of it; but according to the report of the auditor, which was approved
The decree of the court below is, therefore, reversed, and $200 only, with interest thereon from the marriage of the wife, are decreed to be paid out of the testator’s personal estate, to her and her present husband, beside the household furniture, which she received, and is, as we conceive, entitled to retain. Next, $800, with interest thereon, from the wife’s marriage, out of the same, to Anna Maria Eckroth; and the residue thereof is ordered .and decreed to be paid to the brothers and sisters of the testator, or their legal representatives, as directed by him in his will. The costs, however, are ordered to be first paid out of the residue.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.