53 A.2d 909 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1947
Argued April 21, 1947. Magnus Monson, alias dictus Magnus Morrison, a resident of Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County, died intestate on February 12, 1945. Letters of administration were duly issued to Frederick T. Seymour who, on December 18, 1945, filed his final account. At the audit of the account before the Orphans' Court of Westmoreland County, Priscilla Miller presented a claim for $2052.00 for "Board, washing and nursing when necessary at $1.00 per day" from "July 1, 1939 — January 20, 1945". It appearing that the first 152 days of the period for which the claim was made were barred by the statute of limitations, and that the decedent was away from his home — where the services were allegedly performed — for a period of one year between 1940 and 1945, the court allowed the claim in the amount of $1388. After exceptions to the allowance of the claim were filed by the heirs of Monson and dismissed by the court below, this appeal was taken.
Claims against a dead man's estate which might have been made against him during his lifetime are subjects of just suspicion. In Gilbraith's Estate,
In July 1939 the claimant, her husband and their numerous children moved into the home of the decedent and resided there with him until shortly before his death when he, because of illness, was removed to a neighbor's home; and it is admitted that the claimant and her family paid no rent for their occupancy of the house during that time. McMahon, a witness for the claimant, testified that he was at the Monson home once and that Monson and the Miller family "were all eating together. I don't know who furnished the food", that he saw the claimant "serving them at the table", and in response to the question, "How may children do Mr. and Mrs. Miller have?" answered, "I don't know. Just like going in a chicken coop. I didn't count them." Another witness, Ambrose, testified that he had been in the Monson home frequently but did not know who prepared the meals, as "I wasn't there at preparing time but I saw them all eating". A third witness for the claimant, Will, testified that he was at the Monson home frequently and that the claimant "prepared all the meals" and looked after the household work. A witness for the estate, on cross-examination, testified that occasionally the claimant washed some of Monson's clothes with those of the Miller family. This constitutes the only testimony in the record relative to services rendered by the claimant, and there is no evidence in the record that shows the value of these services. A witness for the claimant testified that the usual charge forboard in that vicinity is $10 a week, but board in common parlance includes the furnishing of food, and we cannot assume that the claimant furnished it. The decedent was providing the house in which the claimants large family lived and it is just as logical to assume that he furnished the food — or his share of it — as it is to assume that the claimant furnished it. *635
Consequently, in addition to only vague and indefinite testimony of the services rendered, there was no value placed thereon by any witness and, therefore, the claimant failed to meet the test as laid down in Hirst's Estate,
Even if we were to assume that the claimant had met this test, she is confronted with the long and well-established principle that wages for domestic services and board bills are presumed to be paid at stated intervals, and when a claim for such services is presented against a decedent's estate, extending over any length of time, the burden is on the claimant to rebut the presumption of payment. Winfield v. Beaver Trust Co.,
In this case, as stated by Judge PORTER in Collins's Estate,
The decree is reversed and the claim disallowed, costs to be paid out of the estate funds. The record is remitted with instructions to strike out the allowance to Priscilla Miller from the distribution and correct the decree accordingly.