Barnes v. . Underwood
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from judgment of the General Term of the Supreme Court in the fourth judicial department, reversing and setting aside a surrogate’s decree made upon a settlement of the accounts of the defendant as administrator of the estate of his deceased wife, adjudging him entitled to the residue of her personal estate after payment of her debts.
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Appeal from judgment of the General Term of the Supreme Court in the fourth judicial department, reversing and setting aside a surrogate’s decree made upon a settlement of the accounts of the defendant as administrator of the estate of his deceased wife, adjudging him entitled to the residue of her personal estate after payment of her debts. The case is reported below in 3 Lansing, 526. The wife of the defendant, Cyrus Underwood, died intestate, leaving between $3,000 and $4,000 of personal estate, which she derived from persons other than her husband, after her marriage with the defendant,…
1Opinion of the Court
Church, Ch. J.
The question presented by this appeal is, whether the husband of a wife who dies intestate, without descendants, is entitled to take and enjoy, in his own right, the personal estate of such deceased wife as against the next of kin. The surrogate of Chautauqua county decided in favor of the husband, upon a final accounting with him as administrator, and made a decree accordingly, which was reversed by the G-eneral Term in the fourth department, from which an appeal was taken by the husband to this court.
At common-law, marriage is an absolute gift to the husband of the goods and…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Ransom v. . NicholsNew York Court of Appeals · 1860
- McCosker v. GoldenNew York Surrogate's Court · 1849
3Cited by30 opinions
- Robins v. . McClureNew York Court of Appeals · 1885
- Gottlieb v. North Jersey Street Railway Co.Supreme Court of New Jersey · 1906
- Kenyon v. SaundersSupreme Court of Rhode Island · 1894
- Fry v. SmithNew York Supreme Court · 1882
- Gerber v. State BankAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1915
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