Williams v. Schneider

• Decision Date: 10 January 1928
• Docket Number: No. 19917.,19917.
• Parties: WILLIAMS v. SCHNEIDER et al.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

1 S.W.2d 230

WILLIAMS v. SCHNEIDER et al.

No. 19917.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

January 10, 1928.

Rehearing Denied January 24, 1928.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Audrain County; James A. Cooley, Judge.

"Not to be officially published."

Application by Annie Schneider for allowance of $500 for a year's sustenance as the widow of Peter J. Schneider, deceased. From a judgment making the allowance, after revival of the cause, on applicant's death, in the name of David R. Williams, as administrator of her estate, Ernest B. Schneider and another, executors of the husband's estate, appeal. Affirmed.

See, also, 1 S. W. (2d) 232.

A. C. Whitson, of Mexico, Mo., for appellants.

Rodgers & Buffington, of Mexico, Mo., for respondent.

BECKER, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment rendered in the circuit court of Audrain county making an allowance of $500 for a year's sustenance to the widow of the decedent, Peter J. Schneider, under sections 105 and 106, Revised Statutes of Missouri 1919.

The application for the allowance was originally filed by the widow herself in the probate court, and from a judgment in her favor the cause was in due course appealed to the circuit court. While there pending on appeal the death of the widow was suggested, and the cause was revived in the name of her administrator.

There is no question but that, since the widow died pending the appeal, without having received her allowance under sections 105 and 106, her action was properly revived in the name of her administrator. Hastings v. Myers, 21 Mo. 519.

We are met at the outset with the contention that, under the provisions of a written antenuptial contract, the widow cannot claim her statutory allowances in the estate of her deceased husband.

The marriage contract in question was made in view of section 330, Revised Statutes of Missouri 1919, which, among other things, provides that, whenever any woman, prior to, and in contemplation of, marriage, shall, in agreement or marriage contract with her intended husband, or other person, receive any estate, either real or personal, to take effect after the death of her husband by way of jointure, as a provision for her support during life, and expressed to be in full discharge of all her claim of dower, such estate shall be valid and a bar to dower in the estate of her husband. The contract before us provides that the intended wife "consents and agrees to accept in full satisfaction for the consideration of one hundred dollars per year, from the date of their marriage to the date of the death of the intended husband, to be paid to her out of his estate at his said death, in lieu of, and in full consideration of any dower interest, or other interest she would be entitled to in his said estate at his death under the laws of the state of Missouri, the same being in full discharge of all her claim of dower or other interest in the property of the said party of the first part, that she might otherwise be entitled to under the laws of Missouri as the wife or widow of the said Peter J. Schneider."

It has been repeatedly ruled that a widow will not be deprived of her statutory bounties under the provisions of an antenuptial contract which does not expressly so provide, or show unmistakably that it was intended to bar such rights.

In the case of Coulter v. Lyda, 102 Mo. App. 401, 76 S. W. 720, the court had before it the construction of a marriage contract wherein the wife, for the considerations therein mentioned, agreed and consented "that the estate and property of the" intended husband, "both real and personal, shall be exempt and acquitted from all claims and rights she might otherwise acquire in the same by virtue of the contemplated marriage * * * either as dower or otherwise." The court held:

"The allowance provided for by this section is not identical with dower, but is a different thing. They resemble one another in that they both vest absolutely in the widow...