Estate of Jacobs
Estate of Jacobs
Opinion of the Court
Opinion,
The question here is, whether the real estate of the testatrix passed under the residuary clause of her will. At the time it was executed her property consisted only of personal estate. At the time of her death she was seised of real estate amounting in value to nearly as much as her personal estate. After giving several pecuniary legacies, and one or more specific legacies, she disposed of her residuary estate as follows : “ The remainder and residue of my money I give and bequeath to the Hospital of the Protestant Church in Philadelphia.” There is no mention of real estate in the will, which may be accounted for by the fact, before stated, that when she executed it she owned none; nor did she for some years thereafter.
It was said by Justice Rogers in Bender v. Dietrick, 7 W. & S. 284: “ It is a maxim which applies here, as well as in England, that an heir at law can only be disinherited by express devise or necessary implication; and that implication has been defined to be such a strong probability that an intention to the contrary cannot be supposed.” This is the rule which must govern this case. There are two things which can be gathered from this will with reasonable certainty. They are: (a) That the testatrix did not intend to die intestate as to any portion of her estate ; and (5) that she did not intend her heirs at law to take any benefit under her will, or to have any share of her estate. The first proposition appears from the fact that she disposed of all the estate which she possessed at the time the will was made, the residuary clause being sufficient to carry all that remained after payment of the legacies. The second proposition is manifest from the fact that she excluded her heirs by the terms of her will from any participation in her estate, excepting in so far as she has given them small pecuniary legacies.
What, then, did the testatrix intend by the ■ residuary bequest of the “remainder and residue of my money?” The word “ money,” literally, means cash; and, if we adopt this interpretation, nothing passed by this clause. It was conceded, however, that this word was the equivalent of property. It was contended by the appellant that it included only moneyed securities, and perhaps other personal estate. That the word “ money ” is popularly known and used as indicating property of every description is well known. Thus, it is very common to refer to a person as a “ moneyed man ” because of his large possessions. Yet those possessions may consist exclusively of real estate. It appears very plain to us that this testatrix used
The decree is affirmed, and the appeal dismissed, at the costs of the appellants.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ESTATE OF ANNA B. JACOBS
- Cited By
- 25 cases
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- Syllabus
- 1. As was said by Mr. Justice Rogers, in Bender v. Dietrick, 7 W. & S. 284, it is a maxim that an heir at law can be disinherited only by express devise or by necessary implication; and that implication has been defined to be, such a strong probability that an intention to the contrary cannot be supposed. 2. When it is manifest, from the provisions of a will, that a testatrix did not intend to die intestate as to any portion of her estate, and that in her will she used the word “ money,” in its popular sense as the equivalent of property, land may pass by a bequest of “ the remainder and residue of my money.” (a) The will of a testatrix made no mention of real estate. After giving various pecuniary and specific legacies, she provided: “ The remainder and residue of my money I give and bequeath to the Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church in PhiladelpMa.” Some of her heirs at law were given nothing by the will. (b) Extrinsic evidence was admitted to show that at the date of the will the testatrix owned no real estate, her property then consisting principally of mortgages and securities; and that, by afterwards purchasing land, she reduced her personal estate so that it would not pay more than half her bequests : 3. In such ease, there being no doubt that the testatrix intended to dispose of her estate to her legatees, excluding her heirs at law, a distribution applying a part of the proceeds of sale of the after-acquired land to the discharge of the particular legacies, and awarding the remainder to the residuary legatee was affirmed.