Birkbeck's Estate

Citations

• 215 Pa. 323
• 64 A. 536
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 790

Syllabus

<p>Husband and wife — Antenuptial agreement — Contract.</p> <p>A man sixty-four years of age and a woman fifty-one years of age entered into an ante-nuptial agreement by which each released all claim on the other’s estate, except “only as to any testamentary provision that may be hereafter made by one in favor of the other.” The wife had no estate of her own, and she know that her husband was in comfortable circumstances. She did not know the amount of his estate which at the time of the marriage was $193,000. A few days before his death the husband made his will leaving his wife $100,000 and legacies to other persons amounting together with the wife’s legacy to $132,000. The estate proving larger than the husband supposed, there was found to be after his death an intestacy as to $60,000, as to which the widow claimed her widow’s portion. Held, (1) that no fraud or concealment had been committed by the husband in connection with the ante-nuptial contract; (2) that the fact that the husband underestimated his fortune afforded no reason for disregarding the agreement; (3) that the widow’s claim was properly disallowed.</p>