Beit v. Beit

• Decision Date: 11 December 1922
• Citation: 98 Conn. 274,119 A. 144
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: BEIT v. BEIT et al.

119 A. 144

98 Conn. 274

BEIT v. BEIT et al.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

December 11, 1922

Case Reserved from Superior Court, New London County.

Action by Abraham L. Beit, executor, against Minnie Beit, and others, to determine the construction of the will of Sam Beit, brought to the superior court, and reserved for the advice of the Supreme Court of Errors on the facts alleged in the complaint and admitted by the defendants in their several answers. Will construed.

The plaintiff is executor of the will of Sam Beit, of Norwich who died January 30, 1921. The material provisions of the will are as follows:

" First.-After my legal debts are paid, I give, bequeath and devise unto my beloved daughter, Alta Beit, at present thirteen years of age, the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), such amount to be paid to her at the time of her marriage, the interest on this money accruing during all the time until the reverting to her of the principal.

" Second.-All the rest, residue and remainder of whatever cash will be mine, deducting the five thousand ($5,000.00) dollars above mentioned, shall be divided equally among my four sons, Abraham Beit, Abe Beit, Nathan Beit, and Max Beit.

" Third.-All the income derived from whatever real estate is mine shall be divided equally between my wife Minnie Beit, and daughter, Alta Beit, until my daughter shall be married, at which time my wife shall derive the entire income therefrom; and after the death of my wife the entire income from and the real estate proper shall revert to my four sons or as many of them as shall be then living and my daughter, who, at that time will be either married or otherwise, such income from or real estate proper shall be equally divided among them.

" Fourth.-After my death the real estate will be the property of both my wife and daughter as above mentioned, and become the sole property of my wife after the marriage of my daughter, as above provided for, but my wife shall not have the power to sell this real estate or dispose of it in any manner or means whatever, as I desire to have this real estate remain for the use and benefit of my children in the event of the death of my wife."

All of the above legatees outlived the testator. The inventory and appraisal of his estate includes real estate appraised at $12,800 bank deposits aggregating $16,049.02, and $4 in specie and bills, and an interest in a meat business, hides and household furniture, appraised in all at $1,075. The questions arising upon the conflicting claims made by the legatees are stated as follows:

" (a) Regarding the bequest to his daughter, Alta Beit, made in the first paragraph of said will, as to whether the interest accruing upon said bequest, between the date of the testator's death and the payment of said bequest to the beneficiary, should be paid over to the beneficiary at the time of the payment to her of the principal, or whether it should then be divided between the testator's sons, or whether it should then be treated as intestate estate.

" (b) Regarding the legacy mentioned in the second paragraph of said will, as to the proper construction of the word ‘ cash’ used therein, and as to what classes of personalty are comprised under said word.

" (c) As to whether the fee of the real estate of the testator mentioned in the third and fourth paragraphs of the will vests absolutely in the wife, subject to the interest of the daughter as mentioned in the third paragraph, or whether it vests jointly in the five children, as a class or otherwise, subject to the wife's life interest and the interest of the daughter before mentioned, or whether the wife takes a life interest therein, subject to the said rights of the daughter, and at her death the five children take a life interest jointly, with the remainder over becoming intestate estate.

" (d) In case the true construction of said will is that the surviving children have a life interest in said real estate after death of the mother, does the share of any one of them dying thereafter vest in the remaining children or in the heirs of the deceased child?

" (e) In case that said daughter, Alta Beit, should die before her mother, would her heirs inherit, upon the death of the mother, the interest in the real estate which the daughter would have taken at her mother's death, had she survived?

" (f) In case the said daughter should die unmarried and prior to the death of her mother, does the portion of the income from the real estate, to which the said daughter was entitled until her marriage, vest in the mother, or in the heirs of the said daughter, or does it become intestate estate?"

Charles W. Cassidy, of Norwich, for plaintiff.

Wallace S. Allis, of Norwich, for defendants Abraham Beit and others.

Virtume P. A. Quinn, of Norwich, for defendant Minnie Beit.

Henry H. Pettis, of Norwich, for defendant Alta Beit.

BEACH J.

We take the several questions in their order:

(a) By the phrase " the interest accruing during all the time until the reverting to her of the principal" the testator admittedly intended the interest on the bequest to Alta Beit to accumulate for some purpose until the principal became payable to her at the time of her marriage. The only subject-matter of this first clause of the will is a provision for Alta. Presumably the accumulation of interest goes for her benefit. That is the natural result of a pecuniary legacy postponed in enjoyment and coupled with a provision for accumulation of interest until the time for payment arrives. The term " accruing" suggests the same result, and no other disposition of the accumulated interest is expressed.

The...