63 N.H. 391 | N.H. | 1885
The personal estate of a person dying intestate is distributed, —
I. To the widow the share by law prescribed: the residue to the children of the deceased and the legal representatives of such of them as are dead.
II. If there be no issue, to the father if he is living.
III. If there be no issue or father, in equal shares to the mother, and to the brothers and sisters or their representatives.
IV. To the next of kin in equal shares. G. L., c. 203, ss. 1, 6. In this case the intestate left no widow, father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, or aunt. His heirs at law and the next of kin are thirty-one nephews and nieces, children of different deceased brothers and sisters. The words "next of kin" in the statute are words of purchase, denoting the persons who are to take the estate, and not words of limitation. The heirs therefore do not take by representation. Being all next of kin they take as such, and in equal shares per capita. Snow v. Snow,
The rule is nowhere better stated than by Chancellor Kent *393
(2 Kent Com. 425): "It is the doctrine under the statute of distributions, that the claimants take per stirpes only when they stand in unequal degrees, or claim by representation; and then the doctrine of representation is necessary. But when all stand in equal degree, as three brothers, three grandchildren, three nephews, etc., they take per capita, or each an equal share: because in this case, representation, or taking per stirpes, is not necessary to prevent the exclusion of those in a remoter degree: and it would be contrary to the spirit and policy of the statute, which aimed at a just and equal distribution." See, also, Page v. Parker,
It having been found that the plaintiffs were prevented from appealing within sixty days through accident, mistake, and misfortune, the petition for leave to appeal is allowed. The decree of the probate court is reversed, and a decree of distribution ordered, that the sum to be distributed be divided into thirty-one equal shares, and one share be paid to each of the eight plaintiffs.
Decree accordingly.
ALLEN, J., did not sit: the others concurred.