Hoysradt v. Tionesta Gas Co.
Hoysradt v. Tionesta Gas Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The only important question at issue in this case is as to the effect of the probate of the will of a nonresident owner of real estate situate within this commonwealth. The testator, Abner Hammond, resided and died in the county of Hudson in the state of New York. He died in the year 1849, leaving real and personal estate in New York, and also seized of real estate situate in Forest county in tliis state. The premises involved in the present contention are a part of the real estate in Pennsylvania. The will was duly proved in the state of New York and letters testamentary issued thereon, and the settlement of the estate of the testator was proceeded with during a number of years under the law of that state. A number of changes were made in the office of executor by the proper court in the state of New York, in the office of executor and trustee under the will, in consequence of the resignations or death of the persons named as such in the will. In March, 1873, all the preceding executors and trustees having died or resigned, one Charles W. Macy was duly appointed as their successor by the proper court in the state of New York. In November, 1879, an exemplification of the probate of the will in the state of New
But it is now objected by the present plaintiff that the conveyance to Allshouse was invalid because Macy was not the trustee named in the will, but was appointed to that position by the Supreme Court of New York, for the county of Hudson. The only objection to the validity of the conveyance is that the court making the appointment had no power to make a decree for the conveyance of land of the testator situate within the territorial limits of Pennsylvania. The answer to this contention is, that the New York court did not make and did not assume to make any such decree, or any decree having such an effect, or any decree in relation to the conveyance of land in Pennsylvania. The only act of that court in the premises was the appointment of Macy as successor to the office of executor and trustee of the will of the testator, because the office had become vacant by the death or resignation of all the' preceding incumbents of the office. It certainly cannot be, and is not, disputed that the appointment was made by the only court having jurisdiction to make it, and so far as that subject is concerned the contention is not founded upon any objection to the authority of that court to appoint the successor to the trust, but that such an appointment must be regarded as a constituent part of a decree for the conveyance of the land in question. We cannot possibly accede to the correctness of this contention. If followed to its logical consequences it would result that the will of the testator directing the sale and conveyance of his lands could never be executed as to lands lying in Pennsylvania, because it is perfectly clear that no court in Pennsylvania would have the power to appoint the successor to the trust, and if the appointment by the New York court was invalid as to the lands in Pennsylvania, those lands could not be sold or conveyed at all under the authority of the will.
The vice of the argument for the appellant consists in regarding the action of the New York court as a decree for the sale of the land, when in point of fact it is not a decree of that character in any respect whatever. The sale was not made under any decree of any court. Tt was made under the authority conferred by the will, which was ample for the purpose. As a matter of course that authority was proper to be exer
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Caroline L. Hoysradt, Charles Hammond, Robert McArthur, John A. McArthur, Jane McArthur, Arthur McArthur, Caroline H. Taylor, Maritta A. Markle, Emily M. Coffin, Charles H. McArthur, Mina Bessac, Mary H. Atlee, Frances Theis, Maritta Prentiss, Sarah Billings, Mary E. Blake, Frederick E. Wadhams, Anna O. Flack, William B. Keep, John Hammond, Thomas B. Hammond, Elizabeth F. Terry, Susan Pellet, Emily A. Price, Lucinda C. Wheeler, Sarah C. Butler, Maritta Farley, Abner Hammond, Sarah Hammond and Susan B. Hill v. Tionesta Gas Company
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Will — Probata—Nonresident owner of real estate — Trustee—Conveyance of real estate by substitute trustee. Where the will oí a nonresident owner oí real estate has been duly probated in the state of his domicile, and an exemplification of the probate has been duly filed and recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county in this state where the real estate is situated, an executor and trustee who had been appointed by a court of the state of testator’s domicile in place of the executors and trustees named in the will, has the power and authority of the executors or trustees named in the will to make conveyances of the real estate in accordance with the directions and provisions of the will.