Baugher v. Barrett, 18892

• Decision Date: 11 October 1957
• Docket Number: No. 18892,18892
• Citation: 128 Ind.App. 233,145 N.E.2d 297
• Parties: Sarah BAUGHER, Appellant, v. Lena BARRETT and Ruth Shaffer, Executrices of the Estate of John A. Baugher, deceased, Lena Barrett, Ruth Shaffer, Mariam Elliott, Doris Baugher, Appellees.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

Page 297

145 N.E.2d 297

128 Ind.App. 233

Sarah BAUGHER, Appellant, v. Lena BARRETT and Ruth Shaffer, Executrices of the Estate of John A. Baugher, deceased, Lena Barrett, Ruth Shaffer, Mariam Elliott, Doris Baugher, Appellees.

No. 18892.

Appellate Court of Indiana, In Banc.

Oct. 11, 1957.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 8, 1957.

Transfer Denied Jan. 30, 1958.

Kizer & Neu, Plymouth, for appellant.

Stevens & Wampler, Plymouth, for appellees.

BOWEN, Judge.

The questions presented by the appellant's assignments of error in the instant case involve a review of the trial court's interpretation and construction of an antenuptial agreement entered into between, the appellant, Sarah Baugher, and John A. Baugher, deceased, the said Sarah being his surviving second childless widow, and the appellees are the executrices of his estate and his living children by a previous marriage.

John A. Baugher died testate and the appellant, Sarah Baugher, filed her election to take under the law rather than under the last will and testament of said decedent. The appellant filed her petitions in the court below in the estate of John A. Baugher, deceased, for the payment of widow's allowance and for the determination of heirs in such estate. Issues were formed on such petitions and the answer by the joint executrices and the other heirs alleging the provisions of a certain antenuptial agreement were a bar to any alleged interest of appellant as asserted in such petition, and asserting that the rights of the appellant were fixed and determined by such antenuptial contract, and such answers asked that it be determined that she have a life estate in the real estate as set out in said antenuptial contract, and that she have no further interest in the property of said decedent.

The cause was submitted to the court for trial and the court found and determined that the appellant was bound by the terms of such antenuptial contract which gave her a life estate in certain real estate, and that such life estate constituted her full interest in such estate, and denied her the widow's statutory allowance, and held that the heirship of John A. Baugher was determined by the will of said decedent in which Sarah A. Baugher was given no interest, and that such estate is subject only to the life estate given to appellant under the terms of such antenuptial contract.

The appellant filed a motion for a new trial on the grounds that the decision of the court was contrary to law in the court's holding that the petitioner was not entitled to the statutory widow's allowance, and that she was not entitled to any interest in the estate of the decedent either as an heir or his surviving widow, and that the court erred in its interpretation and contruction of the antenuptial agreement.

The motion for a new trial was overruled and this appeal followed.

It appears that at the time John A. Baugher was seventy-five years of age. He had been married twice before. His first wife, who had borne him several children, had died and his second marriage was of short duration and was terminated by divorce. He owned personal property and real estate, including the home in which he was living in the town of Tippecanoe, Indiana. The decedent married the appellant, Sarah Ruch, later Sarah Baugher, on the 5th day of June, 1945, and after the parties were married they lived together until the decedent's death on December 3, 1953. Ten days before this marriage, the said parties, Sarah Ruch, later Sarah Baugher, and John A. Baugher, entered into an antenuptial agreement which contained inter alia the following provisions 'Whereas, a marriage is intended to be solemized between the parties hereto, and in view of the fact that after their marriage, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, their legal relations and powers as to property may be other than in their present domicile by reason of some change therein.

'Now, therefore, each of the parties hereto declares it to be their respective desire that, during their life time, each of them shall be and completely independent of the other so far as the enjoyment and disposal of property is conncerned with one exception hereinafter contained, whether owned by either of them at the commencement of the marriage or accruing to them during their married life. Each hereby agrees with the other that so far as it is legally possible all property belonging to either of them at marriage, or coming to them subsequently during their married life, shall be enjoyed by him or her to whom it comes, and shall be subject to his or her disposition as his or her separate property in the same manner as if the proposed marriage had never taken place.

'Said exception is as follows: Whereas, the said John A. Baugher is now the owner in fee simple of a tract of land situated about 30 rod West of State Road number 331 and due West of the Moriarty Grocery Store in Tippecanoe, Indiana, containing over three acres of land and more particularly described as follows: (describing the real estate) and the said John A. Baugher hereby grants and conveys unto the said Sarah Ruch a life estate in said real estate in the event the said John A. Baugher predeceases the said Sarah Ruch.'

During his lifetime the said decedent made a last will and testament, which, by its terms, provided for the payment of his debts and bequeathed to his daughters the sum of $743.10 each to equalize said daughters for the expenses paid for his son William. By the terms of his will the residue of the estate was divided into three shares, one share each to his living daughters, the appellees herein, and the third share to his two granddaughters, children of his deceased son William.

The core of appellant's case is found in her contentions that the antenuptial agreement makes provision for the rights of the parties over their separate property during their lifetimes and does not affect the right of either of the parties to inherit from the other or to receive the provision for each other as provided by law, and does not constitute a waiver on the part of the appellant to elect to take under the law as against the will of her deceased husband, and the appellant further claims that the absence in the agreement of any mention of the widow's statutory allowance or estate of either party, or waiver of right to take under the law as against the will of either party, and rights of the parties upon the death of either, are strong indications that the parties did not intend to contract as to their rights after the death of either party. We must examine these contentions in the light of the general law on the subject of antenuptial contracts in this state and the wording of the agreement in question.

The law is generally well settled that antenuptial contracts entered into between an adult husband and adult wife in contemplation of marriage are favored by the law in that they tend to promote domestic happiness and adjust property questions with might otherwise become the source of much litigation, and, as often pointed out, the marriage itself is the consideration for such agreement which perhaps may be the most valuable and highly respected consideration of the law. No formality is required, and such agreements are given a liberal rather than a strict construction, and a construction will be given in each case giving effect, if possible to the intention of the parties. Moore v. Harrison, 1901, 26 Ind.App. 408, 59 N.E. 1077; Mallow v. Eastes, 1913, 179 Ind. 267, 100 N.E. 836; Roush v. Hullinger, 1949, 119...