Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

123 Mass. 280

Bamforth v. Bamforth

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided October 15, 1877

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1877-10-15

<p>A testator, by his will, gave his parents the nse and improvement of all his estate, both real and personal, " and so much of the estate itself as may be'necessary for their comfortable support so long as either of them shall live; ” and “ at the death of my parents ” devised to a sister and a friend, " should either of them be living,” a certain part of the remainder; and, “ after the above bequests have been taken out of the estate,” directed that the residue should be equally divided between persons named. Held, on a petition for the sale of the real estate, under the St. of 1868, c. 287, that the devise over was a contingent remainder. Held, alto, that the will create 1 no trust estate, either expressly or hy implication, and that a decree of the Probate Court dismissing a petition filed under the St. of 1869, c. 3S1, for the sale of the real estate, on the ground that the remainder was vested, was not a bar.</p>

Relies on Thomson v. Ludington · Whitcomb v. Taylor · Minot v. Prescott

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1877-10-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 18 later decisions — most recently January 1969

18 state decisions

501877188018901900191019201930194019501960decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Gray, C. J.

¶1The legal effect of the testator’s dispositions of his real estate is as follows : He first gives his parents an estate for life. He also gives them so much of the estate itself as may be necessary for their comfortable support so long as either of them shall live,” thereby giving them a power to dispose of so much of the fee as may be necessary for that purpose; and, whether their determination upon such question of necessity is or is not conclusive, no trust is created in them or in the executor. Minot v. Prescott, 14 Mass. 496. Stevens v. Winship, 1 Pick. 318. Larned v. Bridge, 17 Pick. 339. Harris v. Knapp, 21 Pick. 412. Dodge v. Moore, 100 Mass. 335. Whitcomb v. Taylor, 122 Mass. 243. The devise over, “ at the death of my parents,” to a sister and a friend, is made contingent bv the words “ should either of them be living; ” and the residuary devise to other persons, “ after the above bequests have been taken out of the estate,” is necessarily likewise contingent. Holm v. Low, 4 Met. 190, 201. Thomson v. Ludington, 104 Mass. 193.

¶2As the will created no trust estate, expressly or by implication, the Probate Court had no jurisdiction to order a sale under the St. of 1869, c. 331, whether the remainder was vested or contingent, and its opinion upon that question was extrajudicial and of no binding effect.

¶3The estate being, in our opinion, incumbered by a contingent remainder, and the justice of this court, before whom the hearing was had, having found it to be necessary and expedient that a sale and conveyance should be made, it is so ordered. St, 1868, c. 287. Symmes v. Moulton, 120 Mass. 343.

¶4 Petition granted.

/123/mass/280 · .json · Public domain