Cox v. . Brower

Citations

• 19 S.E. 365
• 114 N.C. 422

Syllabus

<p>Presumption of Payment of Legacies — Nonresidents.</p> <p>1. Where twenty years have elapsed between the time when suit might have been instituted for the recovery of legacies and the actual date of suit the law will, for the sake of repose and to discourage stale claims, raise a presumption that the legacies have been paid or satisfied, or that the claim therefor has been abandoned.</p> <p>2. Such presumption would not be rebutted although it should be shown that the interval between the death of the legatee and the appointment of an administrator had been sufficient to reduce the period during which there was a person to bring action to less than twenty years.</p> <p>3. The fact that a legatee was at the time of the death of the testator a non-resident of the State will not excuse his laches and delay in bringing suit, since he had the right to sue and the Courts were at all times open to non-residents as well as residents of the State.</p>