Kirkpatrick's Estate’s Empirical Analysis
1925
Citation profile
29 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 34 later decisions — most recently January 1981 · most notably Dempster's Estate (1932), Powell's Estate (1940)
29 state decisions
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.
Relationships
Relies on Appeal of Reiff · Weir's Estate · Letterle's Estate · Loewer's Estate · Welsh's Estate
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 34 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Here testator did not direct his residuary estate to be held in trust for the use and benefit of his wife for life or as long as she remained his widow, but gave her ‘full possession, control over and management of the principal of the personal estate and to manage and invest the same in whatever manner she deems proper.’ ””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage““When Allen Kirkpatrick’s estate was distributed, a decree was entered on September 29, 1891, awarding the $155,112.67 to ‘Rebecca H. Kirkpatrick in trust for the purpose specified in will of deceased.’ This decree did not, however, fasten a trusteeship on the life tenant with respect to that property; to say ‘in trust’ was purely a gratuitous and voluntary statement on the part of the judge who made the decree, for there was no controversy on such a question, or on any other question, before the court at that time. It must be disregarded. The title here involved goes back to the original testator’s will and is in no way dependent upon that decree.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.