Coatney v. Hopkins

Citations

• 14 W. Va. 338
• 1878 W. Va. LEXIS 71

Syllabus

<p>1. At common law tho husband juremnriii is entitled absolutely to all ol bis wife’s personal property, which shall come into his possession, unless his right thereto is restrained by the deed of the wife before the marriage, or by the instrument that confers the property upon her.</p> <p>2. A deed of marriage settlement may be so framed, as to deprive the husband of all his marital rights; but he will never he deprived of them to a greater extent, than the terms of the deed clearly require.</p> <p>3. And when his rights are restrained by such deed only during the life of the wife, at her death he is entitled to all the personal estate embraced in the settlement, subject only to the payment of debts for which it was bound, if any such there were, funeral expenses and charges of administration.</p> <p>4. Courts of equity will not deprive the husband of his rights at law, by virtue of the marriage, unless there appears to bo a clear intention manifested in the instrument, relied upon to create the separate estate, to exclude him.</p> <p>5. To constitute a separate estate in a married woman by an instrument, such as a deed, &c., no technical language is necessary ; but it must appear unequivocally on the face of the instrument to tho satisfaction of the court, that the intention was to exclude the husband.</p> <p>G. The intention of the parties to a marriage settlement is to he collected from the nature of the agreement, the language and context thereof, the usage in similar cases, and the legal rights of the parties, as they existed before, and would have existed after the marriage, if no such settlement had been made.</p> <p>7. A deed of marriage settlement, contains the following language, after specifying the property, which is personal “Upon trust, that the trustee (naming him) will permit the said D. H. A. during the joint lives of himself and the said L., his intended wife, to receive and take the said property, debts, legacies and money (except $500.00, a por