Reuling's Extx, &C. v. Reuling, &C.
| Citation | 137 Ky. 637 |
| Parties | Reuling's Extx, &c. v. Reuling, &c. |
| Decision Date | 16 March 1910 |
| Court | Court of Appeals of Kentucky |
Appeal from Jefferson Circuit Court (Chancery Branch, First Division).
From the judgment defendants appeal. — Affirmed.
DODD & DODD for appellants.
KOHN, BAIRD, SLOSS & KOHN for appellees.
This appeal involves the construction of the will of George Reuling, Sr., who died a resident of Jefferson county on May 16, 1909. The will in question was executed by the testator on September 10, 1894. On October 19, 1895, a codicil was added thereto. The first clause directed the payment of the testator's debts. The second clause of the will is as follows: "I will and bequeath and devise all of my estate, real and personal and mixed, which may be left after paying any debt I may leave, to my beloved wife, Elizabeth Reuling, during her natural life, provided that she remains my widow and should she marry again after my death, then she shall have only such interest in my estate as she will then be entitled to (if any) under the laws of Kentucky." By the third clause of his will the testator provided that one of his farms should be reserved after his wife's death as a homestead for his children or two stepdaughters so long as any of them remained unmarried. By the fourth clause he provided that the balance of his estate should be sold upon the death of his wife or her remarriage, and converted into cash and divided into eight equal parts. Four of these parts he gave to four of his children; one of them he gave to a son, then dead, which passed to the latter's child; one he divided between two of his stepdaughters; one he conveyed in trust for his daughter, Caroline Reuling, and the remaining 1-8 was disposed of in the following language: "One-eighth part thereof I will to my daughter, Maggie Reuling, in trust for my son, George Reuling, Jr." The will also contains the following provision in regard to the estate devised to George Reuling, Jr.: "Should my son, George Rueling, Jr., die without issue, his part shall revert to his brothers and sisters." The other provisions of the will it will be unnecessary to set out. Mrs. Reuling, the testator's wife, died before the testator. This action was instituted by George Reuling, Jr., and his wife against Maggie Reuling, executrix of the last will and testament of George Reuling, Sr., and trustee of George Reuling, Jr., and others, for the purpose of having determined the character of estate which he took under his father's will. The chancellor held that George Reuling, Jr., took the absolute estate in the estate devised to him, and Maggie Reuling, the executrix, etc., and others appeal.
In a long line of decisions this court has held that, where an estate is devised to one for life, with remainder to another, with the further provision that, if the remainderman should die without child or issue, then to a third person, the rule is that the words "dying without child or issue" are restricted to the death of the remainderman before the termination of the particular estate. Bradshaw v. Butler, 110...
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