Appeal of Goodrich

• Decision Date: 09 October 1888
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Appeal of GOODRICH.

18 A. 49

57 Conn. 276

Appeal of GOODRICH.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

Oct. 9, 1888.¹

Case reserved from superior court, New Haven county.

S. E. Baldwin and J. E. Russell, for appellant. L. Harrison and E. Zacher, for appellees.

PARDEE, J. Eli Goodrich, of Branford, died in August, 1882, leaving a will made in 1881, the seventh clause of which is as follows: "After the death of my said wife, I give, devise, and bequeath all the residue of my estate, of whatsoever it may consist, and not otherwise disposed of, to Edwin E. Blackstone, of said town of Branford, in trust for the Protestant Episcopal Society of said town of Branford, the income of said estate to be given to the poor of said society." The will was duly admitted to probate in 1882. The executor filed his final account on September 18, 1885, and on the 30th day of the same month paid to Edwin E. Blackstone, trustee, the residue of the estate. On March 16, 1887, Mabel E. Goodrich, a minor, a granddaughter and heir at law of the testator, by her guardian presented in the probate court for the district of Branford her appeal to the superior court from the decree of the probate court passed on the 18th day of September, 1885, accepting the account of the executor; also from its decree passed on the 25th day of September, 1885, appointing Edwin E. Blackstone trustee, and delivering to him as such trustee the residue of said estate; also from its decree passed on December 11, 1886, accepting the account of said trustee. Among the reasons of appeal are the following: "That J. Atwood Linsley, one of the witnesses to the will, was, at the time of the death of the testator, a member of the Protestant Episcopal Society of said Branford. The devise to said society is therefore void by statute. That the wife of said J. Atwood Linsley, and also the wife of Henry D. Linsley, one of the witnesses to the will, at the time of the execution of the will, and also at the time of the death of the testator, were both members of the Protestant Episcopal Church of said Branford, the church then and ever since existing in sole connection with said society. Said devise is therefore void. That said society has never had a poor person, nor a class of persons known as 'the poor,' nor any rules or regulations concerning the poor. The poor have never had an existence there. The will does not provide any mode of selecting the poor of the society,—by whom or to whom the income or any portion of said residuary estate shall be paid. That said society has never accepted of said devise and legacy. That, under an erroneous construction of said clause of the will, the probate court appointed and accepted said Edwin E. Blackstone as trustee of said estate, and has allowed him to receive and still retain the residuary property of said estate, one-half of which property should have been distributed to the appellant as an heir at law. That said trustee's account was heard and allowed by said probate court, without any notice to the parties in interest. It does not state fully the items of income and expenditure, and how the principal of the trust is invested. It was not sworn to, and the item of fifty dollars claimed to have been paid to the poor of the Protestant Episcopal Society of Branford was wrongfully paid, to the prejudice of the appellant as an heir at law of said estate." The appellee answers that there is but one Protestant Episcopal Society within the limits of the town of Branford, and there has never been but one such society in said town; that it is organized in accordance with the provisions of the statutes of the state and the canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States and of the diocese of Connecticut, and it is known as "Trinity Parish" of said Protestant Episcopal Church. Said society has certain rules, regulations, and practices for the support of charitable institutions and of the poor who belong to said parish and society, and under such rules, regulations, and practices, and the canons of said Episcopal Church, the poor of said society have been for many years in the past and now are assisted and supported. The superior court reserved the questions for the advice of this court.

As to the objection that one, and the wife of another, witness to the will are members of the Protestant Episcopal Society of Branford. The statute in force at the execution and operation of this will declared void every devise or bequest in a will to a subscribing witness, or to the husband or wife of such, unless there should be other sufficient attestation. Of course the reason for this is that it removes all temptation to the exercise of undue influence upon a testator for purposes of pecuniary benefit. In this case there is a possibility that the witness and the wife of the witness may become members of the class pointed out in the will,—namely, the poor of said society,—at a time when the income has not been exhausted by other members of the same class, and may obtain relief therefrom; but this possibility does not come within any definition of property, or of a right in...