Sampson v. Randall

• Decision Date: 04 March 1881
• Citation: 72 Me. 109
• Parties: HENRY Q. SAMPSON and another, in equity, v. HATHERLY RANDALL and others.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

72 Me. 109

HENRY Q. SAMPSON and another, in equity, v. HATHERLY RANDALL and others.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

March 4, 1881

BILL IN EQUITY to obtain the construction of the following will:

" Be it hereby known that I, Albion Q. Randall, of Bowdoinham, county of Sagadahoc and State of Maine, being of sound mind, do hereby make my last will and testament.

Unto my mother, Lucy Randall, of Bowdoinham, I will and bequeathe the income of one-third of my property during her natural life.

Unto my sister, Sarah F. Mariner, I will and bequeathe the income of one-sixth of my property during her natural life and children forever. But should she have no children, then the money will go as described.

Unto my sister, Margaret White, of Richmond, I will and bequeathe the income of one-sixth of my property during her natural life.

Unto the children of Samuel W. Randall, I will and bequeathe the income of one-tenth, in equal shares, to each during their natural lives. To the towns of Bowdoinham and Richmond I will and bequeathe the perpetual income of one-tenth to each, to be used by the selectmen in providing for poor aged people as they in their kindness may from year to year devise.

To the son of Rewel, one hundred dollars I will and bequeathe in consideration of their naming him for me.

Unto Louisa Small, daughter of Elizabeth Temple, I will and bequeathe the income of the remainder, during her natural life--the remainder being nearly one-thirtieth--at her decease the same to her child or children, and so on. At the decease of my mother, I will and bequeathe the income of one-sixth, being one-half whose income was bequeathed my mother, unto Harriet C. Ring, of Lubec, Maine, during her natural life. I will and bequeathe the income of the other sixth to Samuel W. Randall during his natural life, and at his death the income is to be divided in equal shares--to his children and theirs--perpetual. At the decease of Harriet C Ring, if her mother be living, she shall receive the same during her natural life. At the decease of both, the children of Rewell and Merrilla Webber, of Richmond, shall have the same income during their natural lives and their children in perpeal.

Should in any of the contingent remainders herein named--there be any doubt as to the disposition of said remainder, it is my will that the general course of the law be followed.

I hereby appoint Henry Q. Sampson and Samuel W. Randall, both of Bowdoinham, Maine, to be my lawful administrators.

SEAL. A. Q. RANDALL."

" Witnesses Edward P. Bond.

Albert H. Shedd.

Leigh R. Worcester.

Executed in Boston, December 21, 1877."

J. W. Spaulding and F. J. Buker, for the executors and for Samuel W. Randall, Ellen R. Randall; Samuel W. Randall as guardian ad litem of Charles B. Randall, Annette A. Randall and Humphrey P. Randall; Reuel S. Webber, guardian ad litem of Quincy R. Webber and Dexter G. Webber; and for the town of Richmond.

W. T. Hall, for Hatherly Randall, Elizabeth Temple, Margaret White and Louisa Small.

E. J. Millay, for Lucy Randall, Sarah F. Mariner and the town of Bowdoinham.

Powers and Powers, for Mrs. J. Ring and Harriet C. Ring.

WALTON J.

This is a suit in equity praying for the construction of the will of Albion Q. Randall. The facts stated in the bill are to be taken as true. The first question is whether all the provisions of the will can be sustained. They cannot. The testator has in some of the provisions attempted to create perpetuities. These provisions must of course be rejected. All the other provisions may be sustained. The life estates which are certain to vest within a life or lives in being, and twenty-one years and the period of gestation thereafter, are valid. What will become of the testator's property when all these life estates shall end is a question which in no way affects the executors and will not now be considered. The facts stated in the bill are not sufficiently full to enable us to do so. The application of a few well settled rules of law will determine the rights of the parties now before the court, and relieve the executors of all doubt as to the course to be pursued by them.

I. Of the real estate. It is a settled rule of law that a gift of the income of real estate is a gift of the real estate itself. A gift of the income for life is the gift of a life estate. A gift of the perpetual income is a gift of the fee. The effect of this rule upon the will in question is obvious. Those to whom the testator has given the income for life will take a life estate, and those to whom he has given the perpetual income will take a fee-simple estate. The towns of Bowdoinham and Richmond will take fee-simple estates in...