Livingood's Estate

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania April 1, 1895

Livingood's Estate, 167 Pa. 191 (Pa. 1895)

31 A. 550; 1895 Pa. LEXIS 875

Dean, Fell, McCollum, Mitchell, Williams

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam,

The evidence in this case is singularly free from conflict, presenting no questions of credibility. The learned counsel for the appellants has presented one view of its effect with great clearness and force. The learned orphans’ court however inclined to the opposite view of it. We have examined the testimony carefully and are satisfied that it fairly sustains the findings of fact drawn from it by the learned judge of the orphans’ court.

From these findings the decree follows logically and is now affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name: James S. Livingood's Estate. Jacob S. Livingood's Appeal
Cited By: 3 cases
Status: Published
Syllabus: Decedents' estates— Gift — Evidence. Decedent in his lifetime gave to his wife a mortgage and judgment bond which he held against his brother, directing her to deliver them to his brother. The securities were delivered to the brother, who returned them to decedent’s wife, with a request that she should keep them for him. They were then placed in a box in which decedent kept his securities. Decedent repeatedly declared it to be his intention to forgive the debts for which they were given and, in a paper requesting his brother to make oath to a tax return, stated that the judgment and mortgage against his brother were satisfied. At the appraisement of decedent’s estate, the brother objected to these securities being included in the inventory, but it was finaljy agreed between him and the other parties interested that they should be appraised as part of the estate without prejudice to the brother’s right to prove that they were satisfied. Held, that the evidence was sufficient to sustain a finding that these debts had been forgiven by the decedent.