30 Ga. 528 | Ga. | 1860
By the Court.
delivering the opinion.
On the trial, the plaintiff in error offered to prove by James T. Ilarman, one of the witnesses to the will, and the person who seems to have written the codicil, that the testator said, before the will was executed, and before the codiicil was prepared, that he made an ante-nuptial contract with his wife, Martha T. Lowe, by parol, and that in said contract he did agree, that if he, Lowe, died before the said Martha T., that he would, by will, give to the said Martha and her children all the property that he should receive by said Martha upon their intermarriage; and that he had this will written in accordance with said ante-nuptial contract, and kept it by him for that purpose. Upon objection, the Court ruled out the evidence, and we think that such ruling
In Taylor vs. Beech, 2 Ves., Sr., 297, the property of the wife, by a previous marriage, was agreed to be assigned to trustees for her separate use during her coverture, and to be applied, after her death, to such uses as she should appoint. They sent to an agent to prepare the writing, but the marriage took place before the agreement could be carried out. A proper draft of assignment was afterwards proposed, in which altei’ations were made by the husband’s own handwriting. On delivering it to his wife, he told her he had made no other alteration than was for her benefit, and suffered her to receive it to her separate use during coverture. The wife, by will, gave the £500 00 to the plaintiffs, who filed the bill for it. The defendant pleaded the Statute of of Frauds because of the agreement not being reduced to writing. The Coux’t overruled the plea, saying that the agreement was good, if afterwards signed by him ; “ that the
But for this, the case would be with the complainants.
Judgment reversed.