Healy v. Healy

• Decision Date: 24 March 1898
• Citation: 39 A. 793,70 Conn. 467
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: HEALY et al. v. HEALY et al.

39 A. 793

70 Conn. 467

HEALY et al.

v. HEALY et al.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

March 24, 1898.

Case reserved from superior court, Hartford county; Milton A. Shumway, Judge.

Suit by Jane Coe Healy and others, as executors of the will of Samuel L. Healy, against Bertrand N. Healy and others, for the construction of a will. Facts found, and questions reserved to the supreme court for advice.

Samuel L. Healy made his will on October 26, 1896, and died January 1, 1897. The will which has been duly proved is as follows: "1) I give and bequeath to the children of Nephew Bertrand (daughters), Edna and Sada, five hundred dollars each. (2) I give and bequeath to the daughters of my deceased sister Betsey Allen (name forgotten), or her legal heirs, one thousand dollars. (3) I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Jane Coe Healy, ten-twentieths of the remainder of my estate, real and persona!. (4) I give and bequeath to my brother John Healy the use of one-twentieth of remainder of my estate, real and personal, at his decease to go to his legal heirs. (5) I give and bequeath to my brother Wm. C. Healy the use of one-twentieth of remainder of my estate, real and personal, at his decease to go to my brother John Healy's children, share and share alike. (6) I give and bequeath to my brother M. L. Healy the use of one-twentieth of remainder of my estate, real and personal, at his decease to go to his legal heirs. (7) I give and bequeath to my sister Julia Warner one-twentieth of the remainder of my estate, real and personal, at her decease to go to her legal heirs. (8) I give and bequeath to the legal heirs of my brother Paul Healy (deceased) two-twentieths of remainder of my estate, real and personal, share and share alike. * * * (10) I give and bequeath to the legal heirs of my brother M. L. Healy two-twentieths of remainder of my estate, real and personal, share and share alike. (11) I ordain and appoint my wife, Jane Coe Healy, executrix, and my nephew Anson W. Healy, executor, of this, my last will and testament, without bonds." Upon settlement of the estate, there remain to be distributed some $50,000, personal estate, with $——, real estate. The complaint asks the superior court to construe the will in the following particulars: "First, whether, under section 4, the children of John Healy are entitled to one-twentieth of remainder after his decease, or whether said remainder is intestate estate; second, whether, under section 6, M. L. Healy's children are entitled to receive, or said estate subject to said life use is intestate; third, whether, under section 7, Julia Warner takes absolutely, or her children take subject to her life estate, or if these will remain intestate estate; fourth, whether, under section 8, Paul Healy's children, or their representatives, take, or said remainder is intestate estate; fifth, whether, under section 9, the children or grand children of John take, or the estate given in the ninth clause is intestate; sixth, whether, under the tenth clause, the children of M. L. Healy take, or the two-twentieths purporting to be given by said clause is intestate estate." The court finds that the testator was 80 years old at the date of the will, which was written by one Rollin Humphrey, who was at the time about 70 years old; and neither the testator nor Humphrey was a lawyer; that defendant Bertrand N. Healy is one of the heirs at law of the testator, being the only son of Nathaniel Healy, deceased, brother of the testator; that Thomas G. Healy, a brother of the testator, not named as legatee, was a man of large wealth, and has died since the commencement of this action, leaving children surviving him; that the defendants Charles J. and Mabel Healy, Lucretia Barnes, and Mary and Clara Beckwith are the children, and all the children, of the testator's brother John Healy, who died after the execution of the will, and before the testator; that Herbert S. Beckwith is a son of Mary Beckwith, and Raymond and Louis Beckwith are sons of said Clara Beckwith (being all minors), and are all the grandchildren of John Healy, deceased; that said John Healy lived a near neighbor to the intestate, who was intimate with John and his family, and knew well his children and his grandchildren; that the defendants Emma, Edith, Wallace, and Willis Healy, Effa Curtis, Ellen Welton, Hattie Hyde, Winifred Hayes, Egbert N. Elmer, and Henry Healy were the children, and all the children, of the testator's brother M. L. Healy, and they were all well known to the testator at the time ...