Thompson v. Betts

• Decision Date: 05 March 1902
• Citation: 74 Conn. 576,51 A. 564
• Parties: THOMPSON et al. v. BETTS et al.
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

51 A. 564

74 Conn. 576

THOMPSON et al.

v. BETTS et al.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

March 5, 1902.

Case reserved from superior court New Haven county; Edwin B. Gager, Judge.

Action by Anna M. Thompson and others, executors, against Emily L. Betts and others, to determine the construction of the will of Charles E. Thompson, deceased. Upon findings of fact reserved.

The material portions of the will are as follows: "First I give and bequeath absolutely to my wife, Anna M. Thompson, of said town of New Haven, the sum of thirty thousand dollars. Second. I give and bequeath absolutely as follows to the following named persons, viz.: To Ella L. Sheldon, of Middletown, Connecticut, three thousand dollars; to my sister Emily Leek, three thousand dollars; to my sister-in-law Anna Thompson, three thousand dollars; to my nephew Augustus S. Thompson, seven thousand dollars; to my niece Mrs. Martha Bartlett seven thousand dollars; to Mrs. Jane Werle, four thousand dollars; to Emily Leek, three thousand dollars,—all of said town and county of New Haven; and to the Home of the Friendless, a corporation duly chartered by the legislature of this state, and located in said town of New Haven, the sum of five thousand dollars." In the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth clauses of the will, legacies amounting to $12,500 were given to divers persons. The seventh clause reads as follows: "Should my estate be at the time of my death insufficient to pay the above bequests in full, then I direct that said devisees above named shall share the loss pro rata, i. e., in proportion to the amounts severally bequeathed to said devisees, except my wife, Anna Thompson, who is to receive hers in full. Eighth. All the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate, both personal and real, in possession, remainder, or reversion, I give and devise to my heirs at law, to them and their heirs." The material facts agreed upon are, in substance, these: The will was executed in January, 1897, and the testator died in July, 1900. He owned no real estate at the time he made his will. All the real estate owned by him at his death he acquired by foreclosure after the will was made. He died possessed of real estate worth $24,000, and personal estate inventoried at $88,383.57. He was married to the woman who survives him as his widow prior to 1877. The debts, legacies, and charges against his estate exceed the value of the personal estate; and, to pay them, it will be necessary to sell some of the real estate. When he made his will the testator had living one brother, Seymour; two sisters, Marietta Leek and Emily Leek; two children of his deceased brother Philo; four of his deceased brother George; one of his deceased brother William; one of his brother Seymour; and one of his sister Emily. Anna Thompson, mentioned in the second clause of the will, whose true name is Ama Thompson, is the widow of the testator's brother Samuel. Ella L. Sheldon, named in the same clause, is a sister of the testator's wife. The true name of his sister Emily, mentioned in the second clause of the will twice, was, when the will was made, and long before, Emily Leek Betts. She was the favorite sister of the testator. For a long time before and at the time the will was made, the testator's wife had been and was the owner of real estate in New Haven worth $12,000, inherited from a deceased sister. The two questions propounded in the complaint are these: First, whether the bequest of $30,000 to the widow of the testator is in lieu of dower; second, whether Emily Leek Betts is entitled to both of the bequests to her, of $3,000 each. The questions of law reserved upon the agreed facts include the question of the admissibility of those facts as evidence bearing upon the construction of the will.

Burton Mansfield, for Anna M. Thompson. Frank M. Canfield, for Emily L. Betts.

William B. Stoddard, for Susan A. Leach et al.

Kufus S. Pickett, for Augusta A. Rice.

E. P. Arvine, for Marietta Leek.

TORRANCE, C. J. (after stating the facts). One of the questions reserved relates to the use or admissibility, as aids in the process of construing the will in question, of certain of the evidential facts agreed upon, and that question will be first considered. Certain of the parties in this case object to the use or admissibility for the above purpose of certain of the facts stated in the record. To which of these facts the objection is taken, the record does not disclose; but in the briefs and in the oral arguments it is and was taken only to two of them, namely: (1) The fact that Emily Leek Betts was a favorite sister of the testator; (2) the fact that the widow of the testator, before and at the date of the will, and...