51 Barb. 137 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1867
The construction of the will of Jacob Vannorsdall, deceased, which the plaintiffs in this submission claim, I think, is the true one.The case states that the plaintiffs claim that in and by the said last will and testament, the real estate mentioned in said will belongs to, and is owned in common by, the said parties thereto, and that each of said parties is the owner of, and entitled to, one fourteenth of said real estate so mentioned and described in said will. The claim of the defendants that in and by said last will and testament they are entitled to, and are the sole owners of, said real estate, and that the plaintiffs have no right, title or interest therein, is, I think, unsound and untenable. The intent of the testator was, I think, very clearly, to give to his wife his real estate during her life, and after her decease to give the same in equal portions to the three classes of persons who should be heirs of his brother Abram, of his sister Maria Snyder, and of his brother-in-law William Van Deventer. The word heirs, as used in this will, so far as relates to the heirs of his brother-in-law, Van Deventer, was doubtless used as synonymous with the word children, for the will assumes that he was then living, while in respect to his brother Abram and his sister, Maria Snyder, it speaks of them as deceased. In respect to the heirs of his brother and sister there was no contingency in respect to the persons to'take, and the estate would vest immedi
J. C. Smith, Welles and E. D. Smith, Justices.
Judgment should be given in conformity with these views, declaring that each of the parties has an equal interest of one fourteenth of the estate.
Judgment accordingly.