Smith v. Rice
| Decision Date | 28 February 1881 |
| Citation | 130 Mass. 441 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Parties | Robert D. Smith, trustee, v. Elizabeth H. Rice & another |
Argued November 21, 1879
Suffolk. Bill in equity by a trustee under a deed to obtain the instructions of the court. The case was reserved on the bill and answers, by Lord, J., for the consideration of the full court, and was as follows:
In 1837, Benjamin Weld and Elizabeth Weld, his wife, conveyed a parcel of land in Roxbury to a trustee (whose successor the plaintiff is) in trust to permit the grantors to use and occupy the land during their lives; upon the death of the grantors, to permit their son, Samuel H. Weld, to use and occupy the same during his life; on his death, to permit his widow, if she should survive him, to use and occupy the same so long as she should remain such; and "in trust, after the purposes aforesaid shall be accomplished, to grant and convey the same to Elizabeth H. Weld, Susan Weld, Samuel H Weld, Junior, children of said Samuel H. Weld, and such other children of said Samuel H. Weld as shall then be living, to them and to their heirs and assigns forever."
Samuel H. Weld survived the grantors and his wife, and died February 27, 1879, never having had any other children than the three named in the deed; and after the death, during his life, of his son Samuel H. Weld, Jr., intestate and without issue conveyed to his daughter Susan (now Mrs. Mansur) all his right, title and interest, as heir of his son, in the land in question, reserving his life estate therein. By his will after a bequest to his daughter Elizabeth H. (now Mrs. Rice) he devised the residue of his property to his daughter Susan.
Elizabeth H. Rice claims one half of the estate, on the ground that the gift of the remainder was contingent upon the children of Samuel H. surviving the life tenants.
Susan Mansur claims two thirds of the estate, on the ground that the three children of Samuel H. Weld took each a vested remainder under the trust deed at the date of the conveyance; and that the share of her brother Samuel passed by descent to his father, and has come to her by his deed and will.
Child who died before the last tenant for life took nothing, and the remainder divided between the two surviving children.
W. G. Russell, for Mrs. Rice.
A. Mason, for Mrs. Mansur.
The gift in remainder, after the expiration of...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Clarke v. Fay
... ... Hall, 21 Pick. 311; Thomson v. Ludington, ... 104 Mass. 193; Butterfield v. Hamant, 105 Mass. 338; ... Bamforth v. Bamforth, 123 Mass. 280; Smith v ... Rice, 130 Mass. 441; Denny v. Kettell, 135 ... Mass. 138; Colby v. Duncan, 139 Mass. 399, 1 N.E ... 744; Wood v. Bullard, 151 Mass ... ...
-
Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Co. v. Blanchard
...102, 3 N.E. 1, 54 Am. Rep. 453; Stanwood v. Stanwood, 179 Mass. 223, 60 N.E. 584; Bancroft v. Fitch, 164 Mass. 401, 41 N.E. 661; Smith v. Rice, 130 Mass. 441; Denny Kettell, 135 Mass. 138; Harding v. Harding, 174 Mass. 268, 54 N.E. 549. Moreover, the will contains no words of present gift t......
-
Birdsall v. Birdsall
...Smith v. Block, 29 Ohio St. 488; In re Moran's Will, 118 Wis. 177 (96 N.W. 367); Howbert v. Cauthorn, 100 Va. 649 (42 S.E. 683); Smith v. Rice, 130 Mass. 441; Bailey Hoppin, 12 R.I. 560; White's Trustee v. White, 86 Ky. 602 (7 S.W. 26); Jackson v. Everett (Tenn.), 58 S.W. 340; Robertson v. ......
-
Mullaney v. Monahan
...gift over being to the survivors of a class, its members cannot be ascertained with certainty until the end of the life estate. Smith v. Rice, 130 Mass. 441. The idea of contingency springing from the main plan to exclude Patrick is confirmed by the words that the habendum is to take effect......