Bache v. Ward

• Court: Supreme Court of Illinois
• Writing for the Court: HAND
• Citation: 80 N.E. 330,225 Ill. 320
• Parties: BACHE et al. v. WARD.
• Decision Date: 21 February 1907

225 Ill. 320
80 N.E. 330

BACHE et al.
v.
WARD.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 21, 1907.

Appeal from Appellate Court, Second District.

Action by William Bache and another against Nathaniel S. Ward, executor. From an order of the county court, overruling plaintiff's objection to the account of defendant as executor, affirmed by the Appellate Court, plaintiffs appeal. Dismissed.

[225 Ill. 323]

[80 N.E. 331]

Rosenthal & Hamill and Charles Goodman, for appellants.

Horace R. Brown and Watts A. Johnson, for appellee.

[225 Ill. 320]The will of Joseph Ward, deceased, who died July 18, 1903, was admitted to probate in Bureau county on September 14, 1903, and letters testamentary were issued to his son, Nathaniel S. Ward. The testator, at the time of his death, was seised and possessed of real and personal property. He left him surviving nine children and the descendants of two deceased daughters as his heirs at law, who were also the devisees named in his will. After providing [225 Ill. 321]for the payment of his debts and funeral expenses, and disposing of his real estate, by paragraph 11 of his will he gave and bequeathed unto the three children of his ‘deceased daughter, Mary M. Bache, to wit, William Bache, Joseph Bache and John Bache, the sum of two hundred (200) dollars, each, absolutely and forever;’ and by paragraph 14 he gave, bequeathed, and devised one-eleventh of the residue of his estate to each of his nine living children, one-eleventh to Charles Criswell, the only child of a deceased daughter, and ‘one eleventh (1/11) thereof to said William, Joseph and John Bache.’ John Bache died prior to Joseph Ward, leaving no issue him surviving.

On December 17, 1904, the executor filed in the county court of Bureau county his final account and report, showing a balance in his hands of $19,594.68 subject to distribution, and reported that the share of the estate which would have gone to John Bache had he survived the testator, which amounted to the sum of $789.93, should be distributed between the heirs at law of Joseph Ward, deceased, as intestate estate, according to the laws of descent of the state of Illinois. William Bache and Joseph Bache entered their appearance and filed 18 objections to the account and report of said executor, the fourteenth objection being to the effect that the executor had in said account and report credited himself with the sum of $1,066.33 as his fees as executor, which sum was averred to be grossly excessive; and the seventeenth objection challenged the correctness of the report, so far as it averred that the share of the estate which would have gone to John Bache, deceased, had he been living at the time of the death of Joseph Ward, deceased, should be treated and considered as intestate estate and distributed between the heirs at law of Joseph Ward, deceased, according to the laws of descent of the state of Illinois, and charged, on the contrary, that the share of John Bache, deceased, in said estate, by reason of his death prior to the death of Joseph Ward, deceased, became payable to [225 Ill. 322]William Bache and Joseph Bache, as the bequest to William, Joseph and John Bache was said to be a class, and not to them individually. The objections to the account and report of the executor, other than objections 14 and 17, are not here involved, and therefore not material to the questions raised on this appeal. The county court overruled said objections 14 and 17, together with the other objections filed to said account and report which were not withdrawn, and ordered the residuary estate shown by said account and report to be in the hands of the executor to be...