Birkbeck's Estate
Birkbeck's Estate
Opinion of the Court
The parties, husband and wife, by ante-nuptial contract released all claim on each other’s estate except “ only as to any testamentary provision that may be hereafter made by one in favor of the other.” Both were elderly people, and appellant had been married before. It was found by the court below that the agreement was in fact fairly and openly made, and though the husband’s. exact means were not stated appellant knew “ he was in comfortable circumstances.” She had no estate of her own, and from a pecuniary point of view the marriage was altogether favorable to her. Under the circumstances no presumption of fraud or concealment ever arose.
Even looking at the agreement in its most extreme aspect in appellant’s favor as an agreement for such a share of his estate as in good faith he should provide for her, the obligation was fully met. At the time of marriage he was worth about $193,000, and he left his widow more than half of that amount. His estate turned out to be somewhat larger than he himself appears to have estimated, so that in fact there was an intestacy as to part of it. But this subsequent result af
Decree affirmed with costs.
Reference
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- Husband and wife — Antenuptial agreement — Contract. A man sixty-four years of age and a woman fifty-one years of age entered into an ante-nuptial agreement by which each released all claim on the other’s estate, except “only as to any testamentary provision that may be hereafter made by one in favor of the other.” The wife had no estate of her own, and she know that her husband was in comfortable circumstances. She did not know the amount of his estate which at the time of the marriage was $193,000. A few days before his death the husband made his will leaving his wife $100,000 and legacies to other persons amounting together with the wife’s legacy to $132,000. The estate proving larger than the husband supposed, there was found to be after his death an intestacy as to $60,000, as to which the widow claimed her widow’s portion. Held, (1) that no fraud or concealment had been committed by the husband in connection with the ante-nuptial contract; (2) that the fact that the husband underestimated his fortune afforded no reason for disregarding the agreement; (3) that the widow’s claim was properly disallowed.