Snively's Executors v. Stover & Wife
Snively's Executors v. Stover & Wife
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion1 of the court, October 11th 1875.
Samuel Snively died on tbe 20th of December 1872, leaving six children, three sons and three daughters. Apart from some personal property, which was exhausted in the process of administration, his estate consisted of 412 acres of land, in Antrim township, in the county of Franklin. By his will, executed on the 15th of July 1872, he devised his real estate in four separate parcels to his sons, Lemuel, Jacob Samuel, and William Henry, and his daughter Almira. He gave to Lemuel 130 acres and 14 perches, to Jacob Samuel 100 acres and 13 perches, and to Almira 81 acres and 9 perches, the land in each case being valued at $60 per acre, and the will providing that after deducting advancements made in the testator’s lifetime, the balance of the shares of the devisees should remain in the land devised to each. The remainder of the valuation was directed to be paid by Lemuel in ten equal annual payments ; by Jacob Samuel in eight; and by Almira in four. The payments were to bear no interest until they became due, and tthe first instalment in each case was required to be paid in one year from the first day of April next after the testator’s decease. The devise to William Henry was of 101 acres and 40 perches, at a valuation of $50 per acre. After deducting advancements and a bequest of personal property, it was directed that the balance of his share should remain in the land, and that the remainder of the valuation should be paid in six annual payments, without interest, the first of which should be made in three years from the 1st day of April after the testator’s death.
By the sixth section of the will, all the payments on account of the lands devised, were bequeathed to the testator’s daughters,
On the 19th of August 1872, the following codicil was executed by the testator: “ I do hereby further order and direct, that when the aggregate amount of my real and personal estate is fully ascertained and established, one thousand five hundred dollars shall be deducted from the same, which amount shall be equally divided between my daughters Susan and Ann Elizabeth, and the remainder thereof shall be equally divided among all my children, so that Susan and Ann Elszabeth will apparently receive, each respectively, seven hundred and fifty dollars more than any other of my children.”
Upon the theory that the effect of the codicil was to render the bequest of $1500 contained in it, payable on the first day of April 1874, this proceeding was instituted by Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Stover, one of the daughters, and her husband, for the recovery of the $750, to which she was entitled under that bequest. This theory was sustained by the court below, and judgment was entered for the plaintiffs.
On the 1st day of April 1874, the entire estate of the testator, upon which the provisions of the will and codicil could operate, consisted of the lands devised and the payments directed to be made out of the valuation placed upon them. Debts, funeral expenses, costs of administration, and the specific bequests contained in the will, had exhausted the personal property. If the view of the plaintiffs and the court below is accurate, it follows that to the extent of $1500, the time fixed by the will for the payments by the devisees of the lands was materially hastened by the terms of the codicil. This is inevitable, for there is no fund outside of these payments from which the $1500 can be realized. Was it the intention of thé testator to produce such a result ? He did not say so, and the implication that this was his purpose, must be founded on language that is unmistakable and distinct. No doubt would have arisen upon the provisions of the will alone. The amount of the estate being ascertained under the directions of the twelfth section, the shares in it of Susan and Ann Elizabeth would have been payable out of the valuation charged on the lands as the payments by the devisees accrued.
But how can it be said the codicil has produced a change so significant ? Its object was to increase the amount two of the testator’s daughters were to receive out of his estate, and to diminish, in the same proportion, the money amounts to which, under the twelfth section of the will, the devisees of the land were entitled; and the
The construction that would enforce the payment of $1500 on the 1st of April 1874, out of the appraised valuation of the lands, would seem’ to require that a final settlement between the testator’s children should be made at the same time. The same clause that directs “ that when the aggregate amount of the real and personal estate is fully ascertained and established, $1500 shall be deducted from the same, which amount shall be equally divided between my daughters, Susan and Ann Elizabeth,” directs also, that “ the remainder thereof shall be equally divided between my children.” Now, not a dollar could be made available under the will before the 1st of April 1875. The codicil was executed just four months before Mr. Snively’s death. The administration account, confirmed on the 10th of March 1874, showed the balance of his per
Judgment reversed, and judgment on the case stated for defendants.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.