Sayles v. Christie

• Decision Date: 19 October 1900
• Parties: SAYLES et al. v. CHRISTIE et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

187 Ill. 420

58 N.E. 480

SAYLES et al.

v.CHRISTIE et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 19, 1900.

Appeal from circuit court, Dupage county; Charles A. Bishop, Judge.

Action by Bessie Sanders Sayles and others against Minnie Charistie and others to secure a partition of certain real estate, and to set aside a deed alleged to have been made by Minnie Belle Sanders Gates to her mother, Minnie Christie. From a decree of the circuit court in favor of defendants, plaintiffs appeal. Reversed.Heckman, Elsdon & Shaw, for appellants.

C. H. Wayne and S. L. Rathje, for appellee Minnie Christie.

The bill in this case, as originally framed, was filed on January 3, 1899, and, as amended, on November 13, 1899, by the appellant Bessie Sanders Sayles against the appellant Robert Allen Gates and the appellees Minnie Christie, James Boyd Christie, Mary Rebecca Christie, and Mildred Jennie Christie, the last three being infants, and also against Fred Genthe and Stephen Whitcomb, the latter being tenants under Minnie Christie in possession of portions of the property involved. The object of the bill is to secure a partition of certain real estate situate in Dupage county, and also to set aside a deed alleged to have been made by one Minnie Belle Sanders Gates, deceased, to her mother, the appellee Minnie Christie, on August 8, 1895. Robert Allen Gates filed answers to the original and amended bills, admitting the allegations thereof, and claiming dower in the property of his deceased wife, the said Minnie Belle Sanders Gates. Gates also filed, on January 9, 1899, an original cross bill, and on November 13, 1899, an amended cross bill, also praying for partition,andfor the setting aside of the deed in question, and for assignment of dower in the interest in said premises owned by his deceased wife. Answers were filed to the original and amended bills, and to the original and amended cross bills, by Minnie Christie, denying substantially the allegations of said bills, and claiming a greater and different interest in the property sought to be divided than that mentioned in the bills. A guardian ad litem was appointed for the three minor defendants, and filed answers for them, neither admitting nor denying the allegations of the bills, and submitting their rights to the protection of the court. A further amendment was filed to the original and amended bills on March 28, 1900, setting up the act of the legislature hereinafter mentioned, and on the same day the same amendment was made to the original and amended cross bills. Answers were duly filed to the bills as thus further amended. On March 28, 1900, the circuit court rendered a decree, sustaining the deed made on August 8, 1895, by the deceased, Minnie Belle Sanders Gates, to the appellee Minnie Christie, and refusing to set the same aside. The decree also found that the complainant in the bill, Bessie Sanders Sayles, and the defendant therein Minnie Christie, were the owners in fee each of an undivided half of all the premises described in the bill, and ordered that partition be made thereof accordingly. The decree dismissed the cross bills of appellant Gates for want of equity, and also dismissed the original bill as to the said Gates and the minor defendants above named. The decree further ordered an accounting by Minnie Christie to the complainant for the rents of the premises from and after December 27, 1898. The present appeal is prosecuted from the decree so entered by the circuit court.

The facts, as developed by the pleadings and the proofs, so far as it is necessary to state them, in order to understand the questions involved, are substantially as follows: Frederick H. Mather, of Dupage county, was the owner in fee of the premises in question at the time of his death, and died testate on January 16, 1895, leaving, him surviving, his wife, Rhoda E. Mather, and the appellee Minnie Christie, alleged to have been his adopted daughter and only heir at law. Frederick H. Mather and Rhoda E. Mather had no children of their own. The will of Frederick H. Mather bears date March 28, 1884. By a codicil dated November 8, 1890, the testator appointed new executors, and republished his will. After the death of Frederick H. Mather, and on February 4, 1895, his will and codicil were admitted to probate in the county court of Dupage county. The appellee Minnie Christie, whose name originally was Mary Adelaide McMahon, is claimed to have been adopted by Frederick H. Mather and his wife, and thereafter was known as Mary Adelaide Mather, or Minnie Mather. She married a man by the name of Sanders, and by him had two children, who were daughters, to wit, Minnie Belle Sanders, born on August 8, 1878, and the appellant Bessie Sanders Sayles, formerly Bessie Sanders, born on December 28, 1880. The oldest daughter, Minnie Belle Sanders, was married on or about August 14, 1895, to the appellant Robert A. Gates. She became 18 years of age on August 8, 1896, one year after her marriage, and died childless and intestate on March 17, 1898, leaving her surviving, as her only heirs at law, her husband, the appellant Robert A. Gates; her husband, the appellee Minnie Christie; her sister of the whole blood, the appellant Bessie Sanders Sayles; and her half-brother, James Boyd Christie, and half-sisters, Mary Rebecca Christie and Mildred Jennie Christie. Sanders, the first husband of the appellee Minnie Christie, died, and she subsequently married a man by the name of Andrew J. Christie, and by him had the three minor children, James Boyd, Mary Rebecca, and Mildred Jennie, above named. The appellant Bessie Sanders Sayles, formerly Bessie Sanders, attained the age of 18 years on December 27, 1898, but theretofore, to wit, on April 27, 1898, she married, and is now the wife of, Frederick L. Sayles. By his will Frederick H. Mather gave the remainder of his personal property, after the payment of his debts, to his wife, Rhoda E. Mather, if she should survive him, and gave her the possession, control, use, rents, issues, and profits of all his real estate during her natural life, if she should survive him. She did survive him, and, under the will, became entitled to the use of the real estate here involved during her natural life. By the terms of the will, the testator devised, after the death of his wife, Rhoda E. Mather, the possession, control, use, rents, and profits of his real estate to the said appellee Minnie Christie, until Bessie Sanders, now Bessie Sanders Sayles, one of the appellants, should arrive at the age of 18 years, provided that Minnie Christie should first deduct and pay therefrom all taxes, proper and necessary repairs, insurance, and a sufficient sum to properly and liberally support, maintain, and educate her two daughters, Minnie Belle Sanders and Bessie Elizabeth Sanders. The will also provided that Minnie Christie, in case she should live longer than the time when the said Bessie should become 18 years of age, should not have the possession, rents, etc., of said premises after Bessie arrived at that age. The seventh paragraph of the will provided that, after Bessie arrived at the age of 18 years, she and her sister, Minnie Belle Sanders, should have and own all of said real estate, and the testator thereby devised the same to them and their heirs forever. In the third paragraph of his will Frederick H. Mather provides that, ‘if I survive my said wife, then I give and bequeath my personal property to my adopted daughter, Minnie Christie, and her children, Minnie Belle Sanders and Bessie Elizabeth Sanders, in three equal shares, to have and hold the same to them and their heirs forever.’ By a written instrument dated February 28, 1884, Rhoda E. Mather, under her hand and seal, accepted the provisions of her husband's will in the following words, to wit: ‘In consideration of the provisions of the foregoing will in my favor, and the high regard I have for my husband, and my confidence in his judgment, I do hereby express entire satisfaction with such will, and agree to accept and abide by all the provisions thereof, and do hereby waive any and all claim in any part of said property as heir or otherwise, except as provided by said will.’ On March 9, 1895, Rhoda E. Mather, then widow of Frederick H. Mather, signed a written renunciation in the following words, to wit: ‘I, Rhoda E. Mather, surviving wife of Frederick H. Mather, late of the county of Dupage and state of Illinois, deceased, do hereby renounce and quitclaim to any benefit or provision made in the will of my said husband in lieu of dower, and any devise, benefit, or advantage given or made to me by the last will and testament of the said Frederick H. Mather, and I do hereby elect to take in lieu thereof my dower and legal share in the real and personal estate of the said Frederick H. Mather, and such statutory rights provided by law as I may be entitled to by virtue of renouncing the provision of the said will made for me and in my behalf.’ This renunciation was filed in the county court of Dupage county, and recorded therein in the probate record thereof, on March 11, 1895. On March 9, 1895, Rhoda E. Mather executed her will, dated on that day, and by the terms thereof directed that all debts be paid, and then gives, bequeaths, and devises ‘unto my adopted daughter, Minnie Christie,’ all the residue, etc., of my estate, both real and personal, and appoints Andrew J. Christie sole executor. The witnesses to this will were Luther H. Hiatt, H. W. Vanderhoof, and C. H. Wayne. On August 8, 1895, Rhoda E. Mather republished and reaffirmed the foregoing will, and the republication thereof was witnessed by R. N. Botsford, John H. Kampp, and John C. Neltnor. On the same day on which the will of Rhoda E. Mather was thus republished, to wit, August 8, 1895, the deceased, Minnie Belle Sanders, then just 17 years of age, and six days before her marriage to appellant Robert A. Gates, executed to her mother, the...