Calkins v. Estate of Smith
Michigan Supreme Court
Error to Hillsdale. Appeal from the decision of Commissioners for the allowance of claims against the estate of Anna Malvina Smith, deceased.
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Error to Hillsdale. Appeal from the decision of Commissioners for the allowance of claims against the estate of Anna Malvina Smith, deceased. The commissioners refused to allow a claim against the estate for money paid to Mrs. Smith under the will of her husband Aratus Smith, whose executor claims that it was paid under a mistaken construction of the will, the essential provisions of which were as follows: “I, Aratus Smith, * * * do make, publish and declare this my last will and testament in manner following, that is to say: Having by contract before marriage given and secured to my beloved…
1Opinion of the CourtCooley, J.
It seems to ns manifest that when the testator speaks of his wife’s death before his estate is settled, as a contingency 'upon which the sum of one thousand dollars given to or settled before marriage upon her is to pass to the residue, he means, not the settlement in the popular sense of the term, but the stage of proceedings when the funeral expenses, debts and legacies are paid, and when nothing remains but to proceed with the steps for a division of the residue. That is put beyond doubt by the ninth clause of his will, in which this thousand dollars is named among the sums to be paid…
2Cited by16 opinions
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