Moulton v. Chapman

• Decision Date: 11 December 1911
• Citation: 108 Me. 417,81 A. 1007
• Parties: MOULTON v. CHAPMAN et al.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

81 A. 1007

108 Me. 417

MOULTON

v. CHAPMAN et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Dec. 11, 1911.

Report from Supreme Judicial Court, Cumberland County.

Bill in equity brought by the plaintiff, William H. Moulton, against Woodman E. Chapman, individually and as administrator of the estate of Sarah Elizabeth Chapman, late of said Limerick, deceased, and others, for the construction and interpretation of the will and codicil of Eliza Chapman Rogers, deceased. Answers were filed by the several defendants. The case was then reported to the law court for determination. Decree rendered.

Argued before WHITEHOUSE, C. J., and SAVAGE, SPEAR, CORNISH, BIRD, and HALEY, JJ.

Augustus F. Moulton, for plaintiff.

Henry W. Swasey, for Woodman E. Chapman.

Symonds, Snow, Cook & Hutchinson, for Maria A. Rogers.

Walter B. Grant, for Joseph M. Mayall, John C. Mayall, and George W. Chapman.

Ardon W. Coombs, for Lucy M. S. Crockett.

BIRD, J. This is a bill in equity brought for the construction and interpretation of the will and codicil of Eliza Chapman Rogers. The bill is brought by complainant as trustee under the second item of the will as modified by the second item of the codicil. The will was made the 25th day of March, 1880, and the codicil on the 7th day of June, 1900.

By the first item of the will, the testatrix devised to Maria Adams Rogers, granddaughter of her late husband, a house and lot in Portland, Me., which some two months earlier had been conveyed to her by her husband's son, and also certain personal property received by her from the estate of her late husband.

The second item of the will is as follows:

"Second. I give and bequeath to William H. Moulton of said Portland, whom I hereby appoint my testamentary trustee to carry out the trusts in this will, the sum of five thousand dollars to be held by him in trust for the following purposes, to wit, to keep the same safely invested and to pay the annual income therefrom to my brother William Woodman Chapman, in quarterly payments for his support during his life, and at the decease of my said brother I hereby direct that the sum of one Thousand dollars of said five thousand dollars be paid to my niece Sarah Elizabeth Chapman of Limerick, Maine, and that the remaining four thousand dollars be divided equally among my five nephews, George Smith, John Mayall, Joseph Mayall, George W. Chapman and Woodman Chapman, and that on the payment of the same said trust shall thereby terminate."

By the third item of the will another trust is created, the income of which is to be paid to her sister, Lucy Maria Smith, during life, and, at her decease, the trust fund is directed to be divided equally between Lucy Maria Smith, daughter of Esther S. Smith, and said Sarah Elizabeth Chapman. The remaining items of the will are unimportant.

By the first item of the codicil the testatrix devises to her brother William Woodman Chapman for life a farm, and the personal property thereon, in Hollis, with remainder over to her niece, Sarah Elizabeth Chapman, mentioned in the will.

The second item of the codicil is as follows:

"Second: I increase the trust fund of five thousand dollars ($5000.) given by the second section of my said will to William H. Moulton, for the benefit of my brother William W. Chapman to the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to hold and apply the income thereof as set forth in said second section with regard to said sum of five thousand dollars. And on the decease of my said brother I direct that the whole of said trust fund of $10,000 be paid, transferred and conveyed to my said niece Sarah Elizabeth Chapman,—free and discharged of all trusts.

"My nephews and nieces mentioned in said second section having deceased I revoke the bequests therein made for them."

The third item is unimportant, and by the fourth item the residue of her estate is given to Maria Adams Rogers.

The testatrix died on the 7th day of June, 1900. Sarah Elizabeth Chapman died on the 28th day of May, 1903, at the age of 58, and William Woodman Chapman on the 23d day of September, 1910, each unmarried and intestate.

The heirs at law of the testatrix at the time of her decease were her brother, Aaron B. Chapman, now deceased, leaving as his heirs at law Woodman E. Chapman and Sarah Elizabeth Chapman, a nephew, George C. Smith, and Lucy M. S. Crockett, respectively, son and granddaughter of Lucy Maria Smith, a deceased sister, Joseph M. Mayall and John C. Mayall, children of Sarah Mayall, a deceased sister, George W. Chapman, son of George Chapman, a deceased brother, and William Woodman Chapman, now deceased, as already stated.

The nephew of the testatrix, Woodman E. Chapman, administrator and heir at law of Sarah Elizabeth Chapman, claims that the remainder constituted under the second item of the codicil vested in said Sarah upon decease of the testatrix. The four other nephews contend that the second paragraph of the second item of the codicil shows a revocation of item 2 of the will in consequence of a mistake of fact entertained by testatrix, and that not only should they share in the trust fund of $5,000 provided by the second item of the will, but also, in the same proportions, in the increase in said fund made by the second item of the codicil; while the residuary legatee denying that the remainder was vested and contesting the claim of the nephews urges that the trust fund of the second item of the codicil should be paid to her.

In considering the claim of the nephew, Woodman E. Chapman, the second...