Holder in due course

“ All such proceedings take place before the court of probates, who, according to law, has exclusive jurisdiction of all the matters concerning the estate, particularly in those cases where it is in a course of administration; and it does not occur to us that separate proceedings can properly be had in relation to the community until after the settlement of the husband's estate and the payment of the common debts, a division of the residue of the acquests and gains is to be made between the heirs of the deceased and the surviving spouse ”

“ Where the drawer of a protested bill, on being applied to for payment on behalf of the holder, acknowledged the debt to be due, and promised to pay it, saying nothing about notice, it was held, that the holder was not bound to prove notice on the trial. (Walker v. Laverty, 6 Manf., 487.) An unconditional promise by the endorser or a bill to pay it, or an acknowledgment of his liability, and knowledge of his discharge by the laches of the holder, will amount to an implied waiver of due notice of a demand of the drawee, acceptor, or maker. ”

“ If petitioner, who was insured's brother by virtue of an adoption decree, is not within the permissible class of beneficiaries under § 602 (g) of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940, [1] the husband is entitled to the proceeds in this case. ”

“ It has been insisted on, that the omission in the decree, to give a day to the minor, is, in this case, no error, because it is a decree for the sale of land for the payment of debts: to which it is answered, that when the infant is decreed to join in the conveyance, even in a sale under a mortgage, he is entitled to a day. The court will not direct an infant to part with his inheritance, without a day being reserved to him in the decree. ”

“ But money judgments are not like peas in a pod. Because of differences in the source and function of liability, the demand of fairness which underlies the requirement of notice may well be satisfied by different procedures. A judgment for future alimony, as one of the incidents of jurisdiction to decree a divorce, is very unlike a judgment for the ordinary lump sum indebtedness. It is in effect an ambulatory judgment for each instalment as it becomes due. The obligation to pay arrears flows from the original judgment and may be pursued upon that judgment elsewhere than in the rendering State. ”

“ It is elementary. The difficulty is in its application to the cause before us; since the real question under the contract is whether the word 'remainder' as used does not, in view of the subject with which the contract is concerned, relate, and relate only, to the remainder of the proceeds as to which, under the will of the deceased, the usufructuary interest of the widow attached. ”

“ If, however, upon the death of the surviving spouse, the payments are to continue to another person (not through her estate) or the undistributed fund is to be paid to such other person, no marital deduction is allowable inasmuch as an interest passed from the decedent to such other person.' Id., pp. ”

“ While it is obvious that the property left by the deceased, and which passed to his heir, the minor, was bound for the debts of the deceased, and subject to be disposed of under lawful proceedings to pay the same, we think it is indisputably apparent that there was an absolute want of authority on the part of the widow and guardian ad litem to give the property of the minor in payment of an alleged debt of the estate of the father. ”

“ The liability of the husband to the wife for her separate property received by him under the marriage contract is in the nature of a debt secured by mortgage of his lands, and may be enforced by her by direct suit against him. ”

“ Section 206 (b) (1) , restricting the amount of an attorney's fee, speaks of 'the past-due benefits to which the claimant is entitled.' Respondent argues that only a plaintiff can satisfy such a description, not a non-party. It is also urged that dependents who are not joined as parties have not received a judgment and that the benefits accruing to the wife and the children are not benefits to which the husband, the only claimant, is 'entitled' within the meaning of § 206 (b) (1) . ”

“ Any other decree will make the disaffirmance by the infant ineffectual, if the property, upon being sold, does not bring more than the debt attempted to be secured. If the property, in its improved condition, does not bring enough to pay the whole debt due the appellees, they will be without remedy for the deficiency. ”

“ There is a conflicting contention in the argument for the appellant that, if there be doubt as to the meaning of the word 'remainder,' that doubt should be resolved in favor of the right of the widow to a usufruct in the portion of the property not belonging to her husband, and as to which, therefore, she was not his usufructuary heir. We do not stop to analyze the matters thus relied upon, as we think it suffices to say that, after an examination of the whole contract, we find nothing in it which would justify the construction of the word 'remainder' which is asserted. ”

“ All money arising on any policy of insurance on the life of a minor, payable to his father or mother, or both, shall be exempt against the creditors of such father or mother, but not against the creditors of such minor. ”

“ Hence the Code allowed a proviso to be inserted in the marriage contract, that the wife should not be seized for her husband’s pre-nuptial debts; but enacted that then he was not responsible for her pre-nuptial debts, and, in any case, that both together were responsible for all debts contracted after marriage. A man might make his wife a settlement by deed of gift, which gave her a life interest in part of his property, and he might reserve to her the right to bequeath it to a favourite child, but she could in no case leave it to her family. ”

“ For that reason, the failure to revise a will prior to death may result in an estranged domestic partner receiving a bequest that a divorced spouse would not. There is also no statutory provision permitting the payment of an allowance for the support and maintenance of a surviving domestic partner when a will contest is pending. ”

“ Assuming, as the state court held, that the mother was entitled to the insurance in her lifetime, it does not follow that respondent, by virtue of his office as administrator, or claiming in the mother's right, is entitled to payment of the insurance under the judgment in her favor. ”

“ Yet, it is contended, that the widow may elect to take under this devise in the will; that, under pretence and belief of such election, she may get her husband's estate released from a debt and receive a large consideration in money for a release of her title as 'sole devisee,' and afterwards change her election, defeat all the covenants of her own deed, and yet retain the whole consideration paid for it. It is not worth while to examine what acts of a widow amount to an election in pais to take under the will. ”

“ The court having power to look behind the judgment, to determine the nature and extent of the liability, the obligation enforced is still of the same character notwithstanding the judgment. We think the reasoning of the Audubon Case recognizes the doctrine that a decree awarding alimony to the wife or children, or both, is not a debt which has been put in the form of a judgment, but is rather a legal means of enforcing the obligation of the husband and father to support and maintain his wife and children. ”

“ In ordinary garnishment proceedings the obligation enforced is a debt existing at the commencement of the action, whereas the obligation to pay alimony arises only as a result of the suit. The distinction is, in this connection, without legal significance. The power of the state to proceed against the property of an absent defendant is the same whether the obligation sought to be enforced is an admitted indebtedness or a contested claim. ”

“ An original obligation, joint and several, after the death of one obligor, who was a surety, may equitably be enforced against his estate, if not sued at all, but cannot be equitably enforced against it if sued jointly, and the liability of all rendered more certain, and a lien against the estates of all fixed by the judgment recovered.
Again, if an obligee sues each obligor separately, on a joint and several bond, before the death of either, it holds him entitled to relief against the estate of the deceased; but if he sues all together, he is not equitably to be relieved. ”

“ If the defendant is in court only by reason of the original service of summons, he is in court only for such orders as, upon motion, are appropriate and customary in the proceeding thus instituted. There is no reason why a judgment should not be rendered on an allowance for alimony, which is a debt-any more than an ordinary one. ”

“ Such right to pledge her husband's credit will cease if a decree for the payment of alimony has been made against her husband, or a weekly sum has been ordered to be paid to her upon the application which she is entitled to make to the justices under the circumstances in question, and the alimony, or weekly payment, has been paid regularly. ”

“ There is also a class of cases in which recommendations or requests in a will to a devisee or legatee have been construed as cutting down an absolute fee into an estate for life, with an equitable remainder to the person indicated by the testator in his request. In such cases the court will entertain a bill during the life of the first taker to have the right of the claimant in remainder established. ”

“ Apart from special situations, some of which are referred to in this Court's opinion, see ante, at 339, I think that due process is afforded only by the kinds of 'notice' and 'hearing' which are aimed at establishing the validity, or at least the probable validity, of the underlying claim against the alleged debtor before he can be deprived of his property or its unrestricted use. ”

“ Thus, a bequest of $100 to A when he attains twenty-one years is a conditional gift, and fails if A dies before twenty-one. But a bequest to A of $100, to be paid to him when he attains that age, is an absolute gift, and does not fail though he dies before, the condition being annexed only to the payment. ”

“ For while, under the terms of the contract embodied in the certificate, he may not have had the right to assign the policy, or to change the beneficiary, or to lessen the amount payable at his death, yet, whether treated as an expectancy or as contingent interest, her right to receive an indemnity depended upon her husband being a member at the time of his death, since failure to pay the assessments would work a forfeiture. ”

“ The power thus conferred, therefore, in its own terms, as well as by the general intent of the testator, gives her, during widowhood, the right to sell and convey an absolute title in any part of the estate; for it would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain an adequate price for a title liable to be defeated in the hands of the purchaser by the widow's marrying again. ”

“ Even if there were a legal or factual dispute relating to payment and the wife had acted in good faith in docketing the judgment, as in a case where she had acted in ignorance of prior payment to her agent, it is inconceivable that a court, upon a showing of payment, would refuse to vacate the judgment or that equity would not come to the husband's aid. ”

“ The court uses this language: 'When, therefore, the life-estate, which the husband had acquired by virtue of the marriage, was terminated by operation of the Statute of Limitations, and the act of 1861 removed the disability of coverture of the complainants, they were then bound to bring their action within seven years, or their right or title would be barred. This the complainants failed to do, but permitted the defendant to remain upon the land undisturbed for more than seven years after the passage of the act of 1861. By non-action on their part they have lost their rights. ”

“ If respondent is successful, it means the allowance of an immediate and irrevocable deduction of over $175,000 from the gross estate of decedent, although respondent admits there is a real possibility that charity will receive nothing. The bequest, in fact, offers to the daughter an inducement of about $2,000,000 to remarry and leave a descendant. ”

“ Under the Court's view, though the beneficiary is alive to receive the payment and therefore has the statutory 'right' to it, any event that delays its actual payment may cancel his 'right.' By an adverse claim, however fictitious, or a litigation, however frivolous, a junior beneficiary may delay payments and gamble on winning them for himself through death of the senior beneficiary. ”

“ And where, upon the Sale of any Annuity or other Right not before in existence, the same shall not be created by actual Grant or Conveyance, but shall only be secured by Bond, Warrant of Attorney, Covenant, Contract, or otherwise, the Bond or other Instrument by which the same shall be secured, or some One of such Instruments, if there be more than One, shall be deemed and taken to be liable to the same Duty as an actual Grant or Conveyance. ”

“ The sale and conveyance by them, whether directly to the residuary devisees, or to third persons for the purpose of paying the proceeds to those divisees, was not in the exercise of a power over an estate vested in other persons, but was for the purpose of terminating an estate vested in the executors and trustees themselves, by conveying it to others. The twentieth clause, by which the daughter's share, in case of her marriage, is to be conveyed at the expiration of the 20 years, by the trustees named in the will, to trustees for the benefit of herself and her children ”

“ By the statute of 1866 the duty becomes a lien on the succession 'from the time when such tax shall become due and payable.' 14 Stat. p. 140. By the same statute an assessment is to be made within thirty days from the time the party becomes entitled to the possession of the estate. Id. 140, 141.
It is manifest that the right does not accrue until the duty can be demanded, that is, when it is made payable ”