McMechen v. McMechen
West Virginia Supreme Court
Appeal from a sentence of the circuit court of the _ county of Marshall refusing to admit the will of Shepherd McMechen to probate, in which James H. Mc-Mechen and others were proponents and A. C. McMechen and others were contestants, allowed upon petition of said proponents. Hon. Thayer Melvin, judge of the first judicial circuit, pronounced the sentence appealed from.
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Appeal from a sentence of the circuit court of the _ county of Marshall refusing to admit the will of Shepherd McMechen to probate, in which James H. Mc-Mechen and others were proponents and A. C. McMechen and others were contestants, allowed upon petition of said proponents. Hon. Thayer Melvin, judge of the first judicial circuit, pronounced the sentence appealed from. JOHNSON, Judge, furnishes the following statement of the case : A paper-writing purporting to be the last will and testament of Shepherd McMechen, deceased, dated on the 24th day of October, 1874, was on the 5th day of…
1Judgment of the CourtJohnson, Judge
The first question presented is: Could tbe widow of the testator in her own right prosecute this appeal ? The widow had no right to contest her husband’s will, for she was not bound by it. She might have had her statutory dower and her statutory share of his personal estate, if she did not like the will; and she must leave it to her husband’s heirs to dispute the will. She had the power to renounce the will, and so far as it affected her rights her will was stronger than his, and as to her rights she might have set it aside by a simple election. McMasters v. Blair, 29 Pa. St. 298. She elected…
2Cases cited25 opinions
- Improvement Company v. MunsonSupreme Court of the United States · 1872
- Delafield v. . ParishNew York Court of Appeals · 1862
- United States v. BreitlingSupreme Court of the United States · 1858
- Comstock v. Hadlyme Ecclesiastical SocietySupreme Court of Connecticut · 1830
- Southern Railroad v. KendrickMississippi Supreme Court · 1866
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3Cited by70 opinions
- Kerr v. LunsfordWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1888
- Parkersburg Industrial Co. v. SchultzWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1897
- Ward v. BrownWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1903
- Ritz v. KingdonWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1953
- Ritz v. KingdonWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1953
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