Iglehart v. Iglehart

This is an appeal from a decree of the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, affirming a decree of the supreme court of the District construing a will. 26 App. D. C. 209. The bill was filed by the executor of the will of Annie E. I. Andrews, who was a resident of the District at the time of her death, and whose will was there duly admitted to probate March 28, 1904. The supreme court held that all disputed provisions of the will were valid, and entered a decree to that effect, which was affirmed by the court of appeals, on an appeal taken by these appellants separately from the other parties defendant, by leave of the supreme court of the District. All necessary persons were made party to the suit. The deceased left an estate of about $10,000, of which $3,000 consisted of real estate in the city of Washington.

The disputed portions of the will are clauses 1, 10, and 12, and they are set forth in the margin.

J. Howard Iglehart, the executor, is the son of a deceased brother of the testatrix (mentioned in the first clause of the will), and the two appellants are, respectively, her brother and sister.

The executor, in his bill, alleged his readiness to distribute the estate as directed by the will, but he said that some of the heirs at law disputed the validity of some of its provisions, and hence his appeal to the court for a construction of those clauses.

The grounds of the dispute are stated to be that the trusts created in the 1st and 12th clauses of the will are void, as in violation of the statute of the District of Columbia prohibiting perpetuities and restraints upon alienation. D. C. Code, § 1023 [31 Stat. at L. 1351, chap. 854]. The devise of the real estate is alleged to be void on that ground, as is also the residuary bequest to the cemetery company, while the direction to erect a monument, as provided in § 10 of the will, it is alleged, must fall with the destruction of the trust, as it is part of the general scheme of the will, and is inseparable from the trust provisions. The executor submitted the questions to the court and did not appeal from the original decree nor from the decree of affirmance by the court of appeals, and he now asks that this court should make proper provision for his protection and that of the estate, in regard to the costs involved by the contention between the defendant and the appellants.

Messrs. Noel W. Barksdale and Andrew Wilson for appellants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 480-482 intentionally omitted]

Messrs. Hugh B. Rowland, Walter V. R. Berry, Benjamin S. Minor, and Charles H. Stanley for appellee.

Statement by Mr. Justice Peckham:  Mr. Justice Peckham, after making the foregoing statement, delivered the opinion of the court: