Cannon v. Hileman

Citations

• 229 Pa. 414
• 78 A. 932
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 509

Syllabus

<p>Payment — Presumption of payment — Will—Devise.</p> <p>1. Where a testator six years before his death executes a will by which he devises a church and lot to his daughter “until the congregation pay to my said daughter the balance due me as per settlement, and then to give a clear deed of conveyance of the church to the congregation,” and a devisee of the daughter, sixty-four years after the date of the will, brings an action of ejectment against the church congregation for the lot, she is bound to overcome the presumption of payment by proof not only that no payment had been made to herself or to the testator’s devisee, but also that no payment had ever been made to the testator himself during the six years that elapsed between the making of his will and his death.</p> <p>2. All debts, whatever be the evidence of them, are presumed to be paid after twenty years from their maturity and this presumption grows stronger with each succeeding year.</p>