Matter of Baruch

• Decision Date: 04 August 1954
• Parties: In the Matter of The Estate of Herman B. Baruch, Deceased.
• Court: New York Surrogate Court

205 Misc. 1122

In the Matter of The Estate of Herman B. Baruch, Deceased.

August 4, 1954.

Baer, Marks, Friedman, Berliner & Klein and Bouvier & Beale for Robert P. Baruch and another, as executors of Herman B. Baruch, deceased, petitioners.

Fowler & Kendrick for Anna M. Baruch, respondent.

Richard W. Hawkins, special guardian.

HAZLETON, S.

In this proceeding petitioners seek a determination that the respondent, surviving spouse of decedent, has no right of election to take against the will by reason of her execution of an antenuptial agreement. The widow wishes to avoid the antenuptial agreement by supplanting it with a notice of election, upon the grounds that she was taken advantage of and duped into signing away her rights. To be specific, the lady alleges that at the time of signing the disavowed document, the conditions prevailing were of such inequality as to place her in a position of disadvantage with her proposed spouse; that she was not adequately apprised of the rights of a wife in the estate of her husband, that she did not understand the nature and consequences of her act or the terms of the agreement, that a true picture of the assets of her husband was not presented to her, and that the decedent was guilty of overreaching.

The agreement was executed on September 22, 1949, the marriage taking place a month later. The decedent, seventy-seven years of age, was a widower with two adult children, and two grandchildren while the respondent was but thirty-six and the mother of three infant children by a former marriage. Decedent was a physician, financier, and diplomat of international reputation, having served as a United States Ambassador to both Portugal and the Netherlands. Respondent, born at The Hague, held the title of baroness, is widely travelled, has command of several languages, including English and is a highly intelligent woman.

After a continental courtship, begun at the captain's table on the ship taking him to his diplomatic post at The Hague, decedent, before their marriage, sent respondent and her three children from The Hague to Bagatelle, his manor home on Long Island, where they lived until his death on March 15, 1953.

As a preparatory step toward the marriage, the decedent had his attorney draft an antenuptial agreement, with copies for both himself and respondent. Nothing appears to have been hurried. When the parties concerned with the execution of the document foregathered at the apartment of the decedent in Manhattan, there were present the decedent, respondent, decedent's lawyer, who had been his advisor for upwards of thirty years, an associate of this lawyer, and a lady who had been employed by the lawyer and also knew the decedent for about thirty years. Two copies of the agreement were produced by the lawyer and handed to the principals, who read them.

The respondent complains that she was without the advice of individual counsel, did not have the pertinent statutes of the State of New York sufficiently explained to her, and was not aware of the nature and consequences of the paper she executed. On the other hand, she admitted that she read, signed and acknowledged the document. Both the lawyers present testified that respondent had had explained to her at that conference by Mr. Phelan Beale, personal attorney for the decedent, in language understandable by a layman, what she was about and especially the legal consequences of her act. This testimony was supported by that of the secretary, Miss Troy, who, when she returned to her office, following the practice of that office, wrote a legend of what had transpired at the conference. This memorandum was put in evidence by respondent during the cross-examination of Miss Troy.

In respect to whether decedent revealed to respondent a true picture of his assets, we again have...