3 Bradf. 199 | N.Y. Sur. Ct. | 1855
The testator came to this country some thirty years since, and for the last twenty years was engaged in the manufacture of silk goods, in which business he was assisted by his children. It is in proof that he declared that his children in England should retain the property there, and his children in Hew York have the property here; that all his property in this country was the accumulation derived from the earnings of himself and the last named children; that it belonged to the latter, for they had earned it. A draft of a will was prepared, disposing of his property in favor of these children, with the exception of a mortgage of seven hundred dollars, but its execution was prevented by death. A claim is now advanced by the children for services rendered their parent after they attained their respective majorities. The deceased employed no clerks, and when asked for an
It was urged on the accounting that the administrators should be charged with a depreciation in the value of some shares of stock in the Hudson River Rail Road Company. This investment was made by the intestate. The fact, of a fall in the market value of the stock is not of itself enough to charge the administrators. The circumstances should show affirmatively that they have acted in an unreasonable manner in retaining the stock, and that the failure to sell was unjustifiable. There is no proof authorizing such a conclusion, and the objection must therefore be overruled.
The intestate in his lifetime, made an advancement to one of his sons for the purpose of establishing him in business. If there be no real estate of the intestate, advancements are regulated by Sections 80, 81, and 82, 2 R. S., p. 98, and under these sections an advancement must be made with “a view to a portion or settlement in life.” It is insisted, however, that these sections do not apply because there is “ real estate of the intestate to descend to his heirs,” in the State of Hew Jersey. But I do not think that lands in another state or country come within the purview of these sections. The rule of descent is regulated by the law of the place where the property is situated, and it could not have been intended to introduce as an element into the adjustment of the estate of an inhabitant of Hew York, the various laws of other states where the intestate might have happened to hold realty. Our statutes are to be interpreted generally as applicable only to lands within