Mason v. Black

• Citation: 341 Mass. 347,169 N.E.2d 899
• Parties: Allce C. MASON, Administratrix, v. George J. BLACK.
• Decision Date: 08 November 1960
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 899

169 N.E.2d 899

341 Mass. 347

Allce C. MASON, Administratrix, v. George J. BLACK.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Worcester.

Argued Sept. 26, 1960.

Decided Nov. 8, 1960.

J. Fleet Cowden, So. Sudbury, for respondent.

George N. Hurd, Jr., Milton, for petitioner.

Before WILKINS, C. J., and SPALDING, WILLIAMS, WHITTEMORE and CUTTER, JJ.

WILLIAMS, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree of the Probate Court allowing the first account of Alice C. Mason, administratrix of the estate of Ralph W. Black, late of Fitchburg, who died on April 27, 1958. The account is for the period of May 29, 1958, to May 28, 1959. The administratrix is a niece of the decedent and the appellant is a nephew. They are the next of kin and the only heirs at law of the decedent. The evidence is not reported and the facts are to be found in the judge's amended report of material facts. Vergnani v. Vergnani, 321 Mass. 699, 702, 75 N.E.2d 497; Tenczar v. Tenczar, 332 Mass. 105, 106, 123 N.E.2d 359.

According to schedule A of the account, the value of the estate is $33,600.79 and the items in dispute are itme 20 in schedule B whereby the administratrix has credited herself with the payment of $4,200 on account of nursing services and care, and item 27 in which the accountant has stated an unpaid balance due her for such services and care amounting to $21,800. The judge found that the decedent had lived at the home of the administratrix for about eighteen years, and died at the age of ninety-five. He had been ill and under her care for the last ten years of his life. During this time he had suffered from a number of diseases and physical ailments commonly accompanying old age. He often required the attention of a physician and at different times had been hospitalized for short periods. In 1941 he entered into a 'loose' agreement with his niece as to what he should pay for board and room and later in 1948 agreed to pay her $21 a week but 'none of these agreements * * * had anything to do with the services rendered by the niece for the benefit of her uncle.'

It is unnecessary to recite the details of the somewhat lengthy findings of the judge as to the services rendered by the niece. He found that she 'acted as nurse and companion * * * for practically twenty-four hours a day, each day over a period of ten years, with the exception of the time the uncle was in the hospital or rest home and that even on these occasions the niece spent a great deal of time with him giving him care.' He was 'totally bedridden' for about thirty days during this period and she 'practically exhausted herself * * * caring for him.' '[T]hey had never come to a definite agreement as to what should be paid to the niece, nevertheless, the uncle knew he was indebted to her; he knew she expected to be paid and he knew, or ought to have known, that he owed her a substantial sum of money for all the untiring services she had rendered in his behalf. * * * [S]he was not rendering this service because she was related to the uncle, nor because of any love or affection she might have for him, but because she expected to be compensated and believed that the uncle...