Dorris's Estate
Dorris's Estate
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Julia M. Dorris, widow of William Dorris, filed a petition in the orphans’ court of Huntingdon county, representing that William Dorris, died September 2,1904, leaving to survive him a widow, the petitioner, and five children; three of the children resided with him at the time of his death and continued thereafter to reside with his widow in the family residence; that by his will William Dorris provided as follows: “I hereby direct my executors shall retain from the income of my estate a sum sufficient to pay household expenses, taxes, repairs, etc., during the life of my wife, and the residue to be distributed monthly or quarterly as my heirs may desire, — one-third to my wife during her life; one-tenth to my son William W. Dorris during his life, and the residue to be paid in equal portions to my son John D. Dorris and to each of my daughters, Anne, Julia and Mary, intermarried with C. Herbert Miller, and their, and each of their heirs and assigns;” that since the death of William Dorris the petitioner had made demand upon his executors for $4,000 per annum for the purposes designated i'n the clause quoted; but that they had failed to pay the sum demanded or fix any sum as allowance to the petitioner for such purposes; that she ought to be allowed $4,000 annually out of the income of the estate under paragraph four of her husband’s will, the current household expenses, taxes, repairs, etc., amounting annually to more than that sum; and that the income of the estate was sufficient to justify the payment of that amount to her annually. Petitioner therefore prayed the court to fix the amount of her allowance at $4,000 a year.
John D. Dorris, one of the executors, filed an answer alleging that the income of the estate was not sufficient to pay the petitioner the sum of $4,000 annually, and averring that the sum of $2,000 would, under the circumstances, be a liberal allowance, for the household expenses of the petitioner. Depositions were taken, and upon the hearing, the court below found that the testimony in behalf of the petitioner tended to show “that the household is comprised of the same members that were supported and maintained by decedent in his lifetime; that Julia M. Dorris, the widow, is an invalid, requiring con
We are satisfied that the court below was right in holding that the testator in his will considered the royalties upon his coal lands as income. In fact the correctness of this view is not questioned. It is also clear that the court did not intend its order to go beyond the limits of the income. This appears from the opinion in which it is said, “The will does not contemplate fixing a charge by the executors upon any of testator’s property. It is true that the widow is the primary object of the testator’s bounty, but this bounty must come from the source designated by the testator, that is, ‘from the income of my estate,’ and having elected to take under the will, she cannot take against it to the detriment or impoverishing of the corpus. ... At this stage of the case without an account presented showing the status of the estate since the judgment of $12,500 was obtained, [it] leaves us without a proper compass to ascertain our bearing or knowledge of the port to which we must sail in search of safety.”
It will be remembered that the order was temporary, being intended only to bridge over present difficulties, and provide for the needs of the widow during the two years mentioned.
The assignments of error are overruled, and the decree of the court below is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.