Shelly v. McKimmons

Plaintiffs sued upon a complaint stating three causes of action: For specific performance of a contract, to impress a trust, and for declaratory relief, each involving the proceeds of a war risk insurance policy. Plaintiffs had judgment, and the appeal is on a bill of exceptions.

Frank B. Shelly was a major in the regular army. In 1903 he married his second wife. In 1918 he took out a $10,000 war risk insurance policy naming Mary Shelly, his wife, as first beneficiary. In 1922 he died, and Mary Shelly received the monthly payments on the policy, amounting to over $5,000 until her death in…