The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-19
INCOME G THE WIDOW
SUPREME COURT REVERSES Or
DER OF RAMSEY COURT IN
MERRIAM ESTATE
REDUCTION IN HER INCOME
Due to Falling OF of Securities
May Be Made Up by Fat
tening the Trust
Fund,

The supreme court yesterday re-
versed the decision of the district
court Of Ramsey county in the action
brought by William R. Merriam and
the other trustees of the estate of the
late Col John L. Merriam for permission
to set aside an additional amount of
property from the main estate for the
purpose of increasing the annual income
of Mrs. John L. Merriam to $4,000 per
annum
The district court held that after the
securities necessary to produce an in
come of $4,000, as provided in the will,
had been set aside, no other part of the
estate could be touched for the purpose
OF keeping. the income up to this figure.
Justice Lewis, dissenting, comedies with
this view, but the other four members
hold the reverse, and the case is re-
manded to the district court for further
proceedings in accordance with this
view.
The title Of the case is William R. Mer-
riam ct al, appellants, VS.. J. w. Mer-
riam ct al, defendants, Robert H Mer-
riam ct al, defendants, respondents;
Charles D. Appleton, intervenor. re-
spondent.
Appleton was judgment creditor of
Robert H. Merriam and objected to the
setting aside of additional property for
the widow, as desired by the trustees.
In the syllabus, the court rules:
Flrst-Where testator provides a
1und to furnish a certain income for his
Widow designating the amount of the
income and providing that it shall be
pald each year, that securities shall be
selected sufficient to secure that result
the selection Of such securities in the
nTst niTSst instance. does not constitute a spe-
CIlIc ana changelesS fund or legacy the
income of which must necessarily be di
H!IlIllSheu upon dImlnution of the produce
ing capacity of such fund
"a 0econd.ouch ~ legacy is what is call
ed general or demonstrative legacy.
ana When the fund fails to produce tHe
income directed by the testator for fhe
penent of his widow, such income to the
corpus of the estate
Thlrd-Where widow accepts q pro-
VISION Tor an annual income on conSidaro
atioI d. tIl OF DEED OF her Inheritance rights
d! the request of the testator. such nro-
VISIONS become contractual between her
allQ sQ the estate and binds the estate to a
iulnilment of the conditions upon which
her acceptance was made
Justice Lewis, in his dissent states thai
Col. Merriam had exercised unusual care
IN drawing up the will to apportion the
estate Just as he wanted it divided; that
the wording was as clear as any LAWYER.
or the English language could have made
1t, and it contains not a word intimating
that the trust fund could be reinforced
from the body of the estate. 1t simply
provided for the selection of a sufficient
amount OF securities to provide an in
come of $4,000 per year for the widow
and when the selection was made If
should have been final. The fact that
the income had been temporarily reduced
would not justify the trustees in taking
additional property from the estate
Justice Lewis holds that this would tend
to defeat the chief purpose in framing
the will,
Justice Lovely wrote the majority opin-