Lewis v. Lewis

Adkins, J., delivered the opinion of the court. The appellants are the widow and an adult son of Jefferson M. Lewis, and the single question on this appeal is whether they are entitled to interest on general legacies to them under the will of their husband and father, from the date of his death. By the second item of his will, the testator devised to his wife their residence on Eutaw Hace, in Baltimore, and its contents, with the exception of a few articles1 specifically bequeathed, ⁷¹ “on which said residence and contents, purchased by me at a total cost of ninety thousand dollars ($90,-000), I place a present minimum valuation of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). But it is my will that my said wife may, hy written notice to my executors, elect within three months after my decease, to receive the sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) in lieu of said residence and contents; and in the event my wife makes such election, then I give and bequeath said sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) to her absolutely, and I revoke the devise to her of said residence and contents.” By the third item he bequeathed to her “the sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) in addition to the gift above mentioned.

And I do hereby declare that the gifts to my said wife in this and other paragraphs of my will are to he received by her in full of all interest, dower rights, or claim of any sort which my said wife may have in or to my estate. I direct that all indebtedness from my said wife to me which may remain unpaid at the time of my death, shall he released and discharged, unless my said wife shall contest or oppose this will, in which event I direct that such indebtedness shall be chargeable against and deducted from her share of my estate, however received.” 1 The eleventh item is as follows: “I give and bequeath to my son, Mortimer Lewis, now living with me in Baltimore, the sum of twelve thousand dollars ($12,000), which in view of his prospects from his mother and her sister’s estate, I deem adequate for his needs.” The rest of the estate was bequeathed to* other children and relatives of the testator. The administration account shows that the entire personal estate including the contents of the residence (of which con ⁷² tents the widow’s part was valued at $3,254) amounted to $198,052. S'o far as the record shows, the residence was the only real estate.

The testator1 died on April 9th; 1920, and on June 19th, 1920, the widow notified the executors of her acceptance of the provisions of the will. The distribution account was filed August 3rd, 1920, by which the legacies of appellants were distributed to them without interest. Exceptions were filed by appellants on October 8th, 1920, and testimony was taken by the Orphans’ Court.. Mortimer Lewis testified that he was thirty years old; that he always lived at his father’s home and was supported by him up1 to the time of his death; that the residence devised to his mother is a large house and expensive to keep up; that he doe® not know whether his mother has been able to get $50,000 for it, but that she has been trying to sell it, and hasn’t sold it yet; that his only income outside of the legacy from his father was $350 a year from his aunt’s estate; that his mother had an income of $1,100 a year from the same source; that he has never been engaged in business or other money making enterprises except for two weeks once with a banking and broker’s concern; that the reason he had not been earning a living was because “I had a nervous break down several years ago and I have been unable to do any special kind of business.” On October 23rd, 1920, the exceptions were overruled, from which order this appeal was taken.

It is conceded by appellants that the general rule is that general legacies do not bear interest