Pigg v. Carroll

Citations

• 89 Ill. 205

Syllabus

<p>1. Witness—competency—husband for wife. On bill filed by heirs of an intestate for the partition of lands inherited, and for other relief, in respect to advancements as aifecting the rights of the parties, the husband of a party is a competent witness in her behalf.</p> <p>2. In a suit for the partition of land, involving the question of advancements by the common ancestor, the parties can not be said to sue and be sued as heirs, any more than if the property had been acquired otherwise than by inheritance; and that clause of the statute which inhibits parties in interest or of record in such cases from becoming witnesses on their own motion, has no application. As the litigation concerns the separate property of married women in a case wherein they may be witnesses, their husbands also are competent witnesses in their behalf.</p> <p>3. Advancements—bringing into hotchpot on partition. Where advance-, ments are shown to have been made by an ancestor in his lifetime to his children, of unequal values, on bill for partition of real estate inherited from such ancestor it is proper for the court first to find the value of each advancement, and require the same to be brought into hotchpot.</p> <p>4. Same—time al which value is to be ascertained. The date of an advancement is the time when, in fact, it was made and possession taken under it, and not the date of the deed made subsequent thereto conveying the property, which is but the fulfillment of the ancestor’s bounty, and relates' back to the time when the gifts were in fact made, and its value should be estimated from the time possession was taken by the donee.</p>